Proposals for a £75m resort remain a “credible option” for the long-vacant former park and ride site in Southport, despite years of inactivity. Questions have long been raised over the future of the Esplanade site, which stopped operating in April 2024, although the car park remains.
An exclusivity agreement had been in place with GSL Developments to create a new £75m Cove Resort, but this expired in October 2025. The resort would have offered multiple leisure activities including an outdoor lagoon, thermal spa and four-star hotel.
Plans still a credible potential option
The Cove Resort’s Instagram page was last updated in 2023. As Sefton Council’s cabinet prepares to revisit the future of the site, officials said the plans remain a “credible potential option” for the area.
At the beginning of this year, accounts for GSL Developments showed just £2 share capital, although this does not include wider funding arrangements or investors. The fate of the Esplanade had been on the agenda for discussion at December’s cabinet meeting, but was subsequently removed. The same happened in February, June and this month, but it is now to go before senior leaders next Thursday.
Previous report error
An update in a report published in June by cabinet member for housing and regeneration, Paulette Lappin, said that there was still an exclusivity agreement in place with GSL Developments. It added: “GSL are progressing planning matters and discussions relating to delivery of the project on this site and have now received pre-application advice from the planners on the development which have been very positive.”
However, during a regeneration and skills overview and scrutiny committee meeting at the end of June, executive director Stephen Watson said that this was published in “error.”
Site history and future options
Before the Cove resort plan came into being at the Esplanade site, Southport Community Energy Ltd had been working with Sefton Council on the planned replacement of an out-of-operation wind turbine with a much larger device which could have contributed to a community benefit fund worth more than £1m. However, plans for the Cove resort then emerged, and GSL Developments was granted the exclusivity agreement for the site.
October’s cabinet report said: “For the Esplanade park and ride site, and potentially other adjacent assets, it is proposed to ensure that best value is secured via a competitive process, which will follow the soft market testing that is underway as part of the Place Strategy development process in Southport. The outcomes of this process would be presented to Cabinet for approval in due course.”
Disposal of the site would likely require closure and relocation of the current Eco Centre offering, and would have other possible impacts such as on events parking and the location for the British Musical Fireworks Championships. It will also have implications for the Southport Flower Show and their parking use at the site.
The plans will be considered by the cabinet when they meet at Bootle Town Hall on Thursday.
