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Blackpool’s biggest stormwater tanks get a spring clean

25 Mar 2026

A £5 million programme to clean out and upgrade Blackpool’s two biggest stormwater tanks is underway.

The two tanks are located under the car park on Bloomfield Road and most of the time remain out of site. They were installed in 1999 and have a capacity of 64,000m3 – that’s almost 26 Olympic sized pools.

Every year ahead of the start of the summer bathing season, they are given a spring clean – and this year additional work is underway to give them an upgrade.

Simon Holding who heads up wastewater services for United Utilities in Lancashire explained why the annual spring clean is needed and the steps being taken to upgrade the system.

He said: “The tanks are under the car park, and many people don’t know they are there. There are two tanks, each with a capacity of 32,000m3 making them our biggest in Blackpool.

“Their location just a couple of blocks back from the seafront means that sand builds up inside them so once a year we open them up and give a good clean out.

“It is vital that we do this so that we can keep the maximum capacity available if we need them. If we left them, they would gradually fill up and wouldn’t be able to hold as much storm water when they are needed.”

Because the tanks are 40m deep and 36m wide, cranes are used to lower all the equipment and people in and out. Mini diggers are used to scoop the sandy material into skips, and these are lifted out when they’re full.

In previous years as much as 550 tonnes of material has been removed.

This year, as well as cleaning out the tanks, United Utilities is starting work on a £5m project to upgrade them with the introduction of new pumping equipment and a system which will minimise the need for future cleaning activity.

Simon Holding added: “We only have a short space of time available when we can carry out the cleaning as we need to have the tanks operational and the car park back to normal by May.

“This year we are overhauling the pumping system in the tank and introducing three new updated pumps – each one is 2.5m tall and weighs in at 4.2. tonnes. When we do the clean next year, we plan to introduce a new cleaning system which this will help reduce the frequency that that tanks need to be cleaned and minimise disruption for people in Blackpool.”