Lytham St Annes

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Lytham St Annes

Coordinates: 53.7426° N 2.997° W
OS grid reference	SD342278
District	Fylde
Shire county	Lancashire
Region	North West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LYTHAM ST. ANNES
Postcode district	FY8
Dial code	01253
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West
European Parliament	North West England
List of places: UK • England • Lancashire

Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Annes-on-Sea (the latter nearly always abbreviated to St Annes) have grown together and now form a seaside resort, sometimes seen as a smaller and more genteel alternative to nearby Blackpool. Lytham and St Annes, together with the smaller communities of Ansdell and Fairhaven, retain their individuality and are described in more detail below.

The town is situated on the Lancashire coast south of Blackpool at the point where the coast line turns east to form the estuary of the River Ribble leading inland to Preston. St Annes is situated on the northern side of the turning and, like Blackpool, overlooks the Irish Sea, whereas Lytham is on the eastern side and overlooks the Ribble estuary.

Lytham St Annes is internationally renowned for golf, and has four courses, the most notable being the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, one of the host courses for the British Open championships. The coming of this major sporting event (approximately once every ten years) brings a major influx of visitors, including the world's media, into what is a fairly peaceful community.

The other significant local events are the annual St Annes and Lytham Club Days, both of which include a procession of decorated floats and a funfair. These events, held over a weekend, bring in many visitors from the surrounding towns. The Lytham Club Day, in late June, is the larger of the two events.

Like similar seaside resorts, the town is a popular place to retire to, which has resulted in the average age of the population being higher than the national average.^[1] There are a considerable number of nursing and retirement homes, many located in former large houses along Clifton Drive, one of the main roads linking Lytham and St Annes. Many other large Victorian and Edwardian residences have been converted to apartments.

Since 1984 Lytham St Annes has been twinned with the German town of Werne.

Lytham windmill, Lancashire

1 Lytham
2 St Annes
3 Ansdell
4 Fairhaven
5 Local issues
- 5.1 Property developments
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Lytham

Lytham was founded in about 600CE as Lidun and is mentioned in the Domesday book under that name.^[2]

For many centuries the economy of Lytham was dependent on fishing and shrimping, until the advent of tourism. After the start of the industrial revolution, wealthy industrialists moved from the east of the county.

Lytham's tree-lined streets are flanked by small shops, of which many are still family businesses. There are some particularly good speciality food shops. Lytham brims with old fashioned charm. The town is nicknamed "Leafy Lytham" due to the large number of mature trees along many of the town's streets.

Notable Lytham landmarks include the Green, a strip of grass running between the shore and the main road; the recently restored Windmill and Old Lifeboat House Museum are to be found here. The Green overlooks the estuary of the River Ribble and the Welsh mountains. The centre of Lytham contains many notable buildings including the library, railway station, Market Hall and the County and Ship public houses. Some of the oldest buildings are found in Henry Street and Dicconson Terrace.

Until the middle of the 20th century the Clifton family was the leading family in Lytham and two of the town's main thoroughfares are named in their honour. Their estate on the outskirts of Lytham and Ansdell originally occupied a huge area. Lytham Hall, the family seat, remained in the family's ownership until 1979 after which ownership passed to a number of corporate bodies. The grounds of the Hall are occasionally opened to the public for performances of open-air concerts and plays. Several of the ornate gates to the estate and much of the distinctive pebble-dashed boundary wall survive.

the town of St. Anne's, Lancashire

[edit] St Annes

St Annes-on-the-Sea (also known as St Annes-on-Sea or St Annes) was a 19th century planned town, officially founded on 31 March 1875. The village of Kilgrimol, which is believed to have been founded by Vikings in around 900CE, existed in what is now the north of St Annes.,^[3]

The town of St Annes was mostly laid out according to a plan drawn up by businessmen who saw the economic benefits of attracting large numbers of visitors from the mill towns to the east. It retains much of its original character today, and is fighting hard to become a stylish town to rival Lytham, its near neighbour. It is a traditional quiet Victorian / Edwardian seaside resort with up-market hotels, a sandy beach, donkeys, a small pier and ice cream stalls. Sand dunes fringe the beach, and the town has an excellent, but little known sand dune nature reserve, and very good floral displays.

The town's shopping area has suffered economic decline over recent years and was recently re-developed in an attempt to attract more retailers and shoppers. As part of this project, a restaurant quarter was established, centred around Wood Street. Shops include Boots, Woolworths, Booths, WHSmith, JR Taylors and Home Bargains. Marks and Spencer is in the process of opening a food store, in the premises previously occupied by Kwik Save's Clifton Drive South store.

St Annes beach hosts a number of kite flying events each year, although there are concerns about the future of these activities following a decision by Fylde Borough Council in 2006 to ban the flying of any kites with 2 or more lines anywhere in the Fylde pending a risk assessment. Following representations from kite fliers, the council rescinded the ban on condition that kite fliers remain at least 50m from the sand dunes pending completion of the risk assessment. The beach to the north of St Annes has also been an internationally-renowned sand yachting location for many years, although there is currently a moratorium on the sport since 2002, when a visitor to the beach died after being hit by a sand yacht.

[edit] Ansdell

Ansdell is a small district between Lytham and St Annes. It has its own railway station (shared with Fairhaven), the "Ansdell Institute" club and a small library. It is famous because of Richard Ansdell RA, an artist who lived in the area and painted a large number of oil pictures depicting hunting scenes. In fact, Ansdell enjoys the distinction of being the only place in England to be named after an artist.^[4]

Ansdell hosts the largest school in Lancashire, Lytham St. Annes High Technology College with over 2000 students, a dedicated technology and IT department, and an integrated A-Level College. Ansdell also encompasses the southern end of Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, a course of the Open Championship, also known as the "British Open", a competition course since first hosting the Open in 1926. Ansdell is also the home of Fylde Rugby Club, established in May 1920, later to be closed during the war effort, and re-opened in 1946. FRC has reared many eminent players, notably Malcolm Phillips (a former President of the club) who earned 25 England caps, and Bill Beaumont who earned 34 caps before retiring in 1982.

[edit] Fairhaven

Fairhaven, another district between Lytham and St Annes, lies between Ansdell and the coast. It is named after Thomas Fair, an early resident of Lytham St Annes. Its main claim to fame is its artificial lake, known as Fairhaven Lake or more formally as the Ashton Marine Park, which is an important wildfowl habitat. Its other famous landmark is the Fairhaven United Reformed Church, which is of unusual design, being built in Byzantine style and faced with glazed white tiles, and commonly known as the White Church,it also contains the well known King Edward VII and Queen Mary school.

[edit] Local issues

[edit] Property developments

Currently the most controversial political issue in Lytham St Annes concerns property development.

Given that the available greenfield sites have been exhausted, developers are now seeking to replace existing buildings or to build on open spaces such as St Annes' Ashton Gardens. Many historic buildings have been already been demolished and replaced with larger modern constructions of generic design, which can be found in many other parts of the country. For example the former headquarters of the Football League, in art deco style, was demolished and replaced with a block of flats. A number of open spaces have also been built on, including part of Fylde Rugby Club's ground.

In 2005 a property development company submitted a proposal for a 2,800 apartment development called Lytham Quays, to be built on industrial brown-field sites in the east of Lytham. This proposal was rejected by the council's development control committee after 98.4% of the population voted against the development in a poll organised by the local press. The "Defend Lytham" pressure group opposed the development. Objections included predictions of a loss of industrial land, increases in traffic congestion, and increased demands on local schools and health services. Environmental objections were also raised, given that the site is in an area prone to flooding and next to an important wildfowl habitat. The developers submitted a substantially smaller proposal for 260 dwellings which was approved in May 2006 and which is now under construction.

In St Annes, another group of developers succeeded in gaining planning permission to build a block of flats on the site of a derelict children's home in the sand dunes to the north of St Annes. This plan was resisted by local campaigners, as a result of which the council initially refused planning permission, but their decision was overturned on appeal to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and building work is now nearing completion.