Blackpool trams win cash boost

Trams have been running in Blackpool for 120 years

An £11.8m cash boost has been given to spend on emergency repairs to the trams in Blackpool and Fleetwood.

The spending has been approved by the Department for Transport along with 35 other schemes across the North West.

Planned improvements include track replacement and the building of a new electrical sub-station in Fleetwood.

The works are part of a larger proposal to upgrade the resort's historic tramways which is still awaiting government approval.

Blackpool's tram system was the country's first permanent electric street tramway. It opened on 29 September 1885 and ran from Cocker Street to South Shore.

The announcement comes on the same day that Manchester was given the go-ahead to extend it's Metrolink tram network.