Blackpool and The Fylde College facilities are among the best in the Fylde area and indeed the whole of the UK. We have several refectories, restaurants and shops on our campuses and our sporting facilities are unsurpassed. Our all-weather floodlit Astro Turf pitch was opened by the world famous football player Sir Bobby Charlton, and cost over £1/2 million to construct. We also have an outside climbing wall at our Bispham Campus along with a gymnasium and sports hall to accommodate badminton, trampoline, five-a-side football and basketball.

The Learning Resource Centres at each campus are excellent; the University Centre was recently refurbished including a new Nescafe refectory and library. The Bispham Campus has just been extensively refurbished with a new Business and Management Building and a central customer services 'hub' housing advice, guidance and retail facilities.

The growth in numbers of A-level students has led to the development of a newly refurbished A-level Academy. This facility is exclusively for the use of our A-level and degree level academic students and offers a sixth form experience in a university-style campus.

Each year we welcome around 30,000 students to the College, over 1,500 of these are on Higher Education programmes. We are constantly reviewing our courses, support and social facilities to make this higher education experience a good one and distinct from that enjoyed by further education students. To support this we are planning to build upon the existing £3million upgrade of our University Centre, which allowed us to create an exciting and vibrant Visual and Performing Arts Centre located in the heart of the town. We want to go further now and include the College's other curriculum areas. The exciting regeneration plans for Blackpool over the next 10 years and the College's response to the needs of the resort casino industry should make this possible.

As you would expect from a college this size, we also have an extensive Student Services Unit offering advice and guidance on a whole range of College matters, as well as a Student Association run for, and by, our students. We are also justifiably proud of our high reputation for providing extra help for students with learning difficulties and/ or disabilities as part of our commitment to equal opportunities for all.