A leading figure in Blackpool’s regeneration has been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
Alan Cavill has been appointed as an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for services to regeneration in Blackpool.
Alan, who grew up in Blackpool, has played a major role in the town’s £2bn regeneration for nearly 30 years.
Along with directing Blackpool’s major regeneration projects such as the £350m Talbot Gateway and £300m Enterprise Zone, he has also ensured that skills practices are in place to ensure local people benefit from the town’s growth by securing training opportunities and jobs.
With Talbot Gateway, Alan is behind the ongoing regeneration project creating a central business district and civic quarter for more than 8,000 workers and students to the town centre, helping to attract a rising number of corporate and commercial visitors.
His role has included attracting private and public sector investment in the town. After hearing that financial barriers were preventing investment, he created a solution where Blackpool Council could borrow money at lower preferential rates and provide loans to businesses who were looking to invest or grow their business. That business loans fund has supported more than 30 businesses and helped to created or safeguard more than 1,700 local jobs.
In addition to his role in regeneration, Alan also led the council’s cultural, tourism and visitor teams from 2010 to 2025, including the Blackpool Illuminations, setting up of Showtown Museum and leading on the purchase of the Blackpool Tower and Winter Gardens back into public ownership.
Alan said: “I am deeply honoured to have been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours. “As with many people this is an acknowledgment of achievements that are by no means my own. I am truly grateful to my wife and family for giving me the support that has allowed me to pursue my career and to the many people who have done most of the work to deliver the changes to my hometown that this award recognises.
“My colleagues at Blackpool Council and the councillors who have had the strength to support our regeneration programme are equally deserving of this and I would like to thank them all for their hard work and dedication without whom very little would have been achieved.
“Partners and stakeholders across the town also play a huge role in making anything happen and we have had excellent support from many including Business in the Community, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Blackpool and the Fylde College and many, many others.
“I am delighted to accept this accolade knowing that I do so on behalf all of help and support I have received over my career.”
Cllr Lynn Williams MBE, Leader of Blackpool Council, added: “This honour is extremely well deserved. For decades, Alan has been a dedicated public servant working tirelessly to make Blackpool a better place for the people who live here.
“Not only has he directly been involved in the creation and safeguarding of thousands of jobs in this town, but he’s also made it a mission to make sure that our young people are skilled and equipped to get those jobs and make the most of the opportunities available.”
Before moving to work in Blackpool in 1997 to manage Blackpool Challenge Partnership, he spent 15 years with Central Government in Manchester in the Department of Transport, Department of Environment and Government Office for the North West.
For more than 14 years, he also volunteered to sit on the board of Blackpool & the Fylde College, ultimately chairing the board and championing young people to ensure they had the skills required to grow.
He has also been vice chairman of British Destinations (a national body representing tourism destinations) and a trustee of Claremont First Step Community Centre for 18 years. He was previously a trustee of Blackpool Carers centre for three years and played an integral part in its creation.
The Talbot Gateway project has already delivered the 144-bedroom Holiday Inn Blackpool, providing 100 jobs for almost entirely local people and the 125,000 sq ft Number One Bickerstaffe Square new headquarters of Blackpool Council, housing more than 700 staff.
It also includes a 120,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s supermarket, multi-storey car parking and public space and tramway extension and interchange with Blackpool North train station.
Other Talbot Gateway schemes include the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) office, £65m carbon neutral Multiversity campus for about 3,000 students and staff at Blackpool and the Fylde College, due to open in 2028.
The 52,000 sq ft Ministry of Defence (MoD) office on the site of the former Apollo 2000 store started in 2025. When completed in 2027 it will be home to about 1,100 MoD staff.
