By Council buys dormant Grimsby building to help regenerate town centre
A dormant Grimsby building sat in Grimsby Town Centre has been bought by North East Lincolnshire Council in a bit to regenerate and reinvent the high street area.
The 1.6-acre area, which comprises 3-15 Osborne Street and the land behind those buildings on Garden Street, is currently used as a car park.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Philip Jackson, stated intentions to look at the wider plans for the whole of the town centre.
He added that the council was determined to “grasp hold of opportunities and lead change with central Grimsby a priority.”
The buildings, he added, had been redundant for some considerable time.
Over the last five years, the town centre has won multi-million-pound funding bids from Central Government.
This money has seen the transformation of St James Square and Garth Lane with its new footbridge, river dredging and paving and landscaping works.
In more regeneration works, work is set to start soon on the redundant St James House with the E-Factor purchasing the building to create a business hub.
A long-held residents’ view that the town centre needs better facilities for people using public transport may also be receiving council support.
This is in addition to the Future High Streets Fund, and projects earmarked for Towns Fund money including the refurb of Riverhead Square, a plan for new housing on the redundant Garth Lane site and the wider multi-use of empty space at Central Library.
There is also the new OnSide ‘Horizon’ Youth Zone, which will see the transformation of the historic redundant buildings along Garth Lane into a state-of-the-art centre for young people.
Cllr Jackson said: “In order to effect change, which we all know is needed, we must look at opportunities such as this with a view to shaping and guiding redevelopment. Town Centres across the country have changed almost beyond what any of us would have anticipated and we have a responsibility to ensure the community’s needs are served as we look to refocus the town.”
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