Central Pier, Promenade, Blackpool: Extension

THE PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE BLACKPOOL SOUTH PIER - On Tuesday a Select Committee of the House of Commons took into consideration the Pier and Harbour Provisional Order (No. 2) Bill, as far as it related to the order for Blackpool South Pier. The order authorised the extension and improvement of the South Pier at Blackpool. belonging to the Blackpool South Jetty Company Limited and originally constructed 20 years ago. It was necessary to make the extension because of the great increase of the sand banks and the scheme which the Board of Trade had approved was at a coat of £36.000 to extend the pier seaward about 500 yards. and to widen the pier at the pierhead and the bays at the shore end. 

Members of the pier company claimed that the extension was necessary because of the great increase of admissions and to enable steamboats to approach the pier when the tide was low. Last Whit Monday 20.000 persons used the pier, and it was noted that the Lancashire people who visited the town wero very fond of dancing which went on at the pier. The Chairman intimated that the Committee had received sufficient evidence that the pier had on various occasions been considerably and even inconveniently overcrowded but it had not been shown that the dancing had not been properly conducted. Mr. Worthington, the engineer. described the new scheme and said it was absolutely necessary to have the extension to accommodate the crowds that used the pier. He denied that the extension would obstruct pedestrians or be a danger to shipping. Despite objections from Blackpool Corporation and local residents the Committee confirmed the order. [Bolton Chronicle 13 June 1891 page 8 - abridged]

Reference        Bolton Chronicle 13 June 1891 page 8 - abridged
Reference        Lancashire Evening Post 3 May 1905 page 3