‘Bottomless pit’ Blackpool ‘looks like Chernobyl' says councillor

Independent councillor Paul Hayhurst has sparked apoplectic rage after comparing seaside town Blackpool to Chernobyl and saying it is a ‘bottomless pit’.

In a recent meeting, the councillor from neighbouring Fylde Borough Council, expressed his concern that his area risked being consumed by Blackpool “looks like Chernobyl no matter how much money you put in there.”

He said he would not support bids for extra government funding if it meant cooperating with neighbours in Blackpool.

Blackpool Council’s Labour leader Lynn Williams has hit back and said the “disrespectful” comments were “sour grapes”.

It was reported in LancsLive that Blackpool often hosts groups of children from Belarus, where families often continue to suffer from the fallout of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl.

Councillor Hayhurst said: “Our friends down the road, the bottomless pit, could swallow £5bn overnight and it would still look like Chernobyl.

“I am convinced that the more we show we are co-operating with Blackpool, the day is coming closer when Lytham St Annes will become part of greater Blackpool and the rural areas will disappear.”

Councillor Hayhurst told the meeting: ”Blackpool needs probably half its hotels knocking down and instead of rebuilding on greenfield sites, it needs redeveloping because it’s never going to be the sort of place it was in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.”