Two transport-based projects that will change the way we move around Grimsby Town Centre have been given the green light at a Cabinet meeting.
The schemes will redesign car parking at the Council’s Abbey Walk and Burgess Street car parks and kickstart a project to provide a town centre transport hub for public transport.
The Abbey Walk car park was built in 1969 by Holst & Company of Scunthorpe at a cost of approximately £200,000.
Whilst a key asset for the town centre, the car park was closed in May this year, after structural defects were found. This was water ingress into key structural supports, making the car park potentially unsafe to use.
It has now been approved to proceed with plans to demolish the car park, and replace it with a 120-space surface car park, but with the capability in the foundations of being built on in future years if needed. Burgess Street Car Park will also be improved to provide additional car parking capacity within a few minutes’ walk of the town centre.
The next stage will be to work up detailed design and costings before submitting any traffic regulation orders or planning permissions that may be required for the two schemes.
Funding will initially be sought from the Council’s capital programme, with other funding sources being explored to reduce the impact on the council resources.
Also approved was the outline plan to create a Transport Hub on a 1.6acre site off Osborne Street in the town centre.
The hub would sit behind current vacant units on Osborne Street which the council owns. This stretch of buildings is due to be demolished in the coming months. The Hub would also include the use of the car park at Garden Street.
Now the plans have been approved in outline, the next stage is to consult with people and businesses and carry out preliminary site surveys before finalising the design, and submitting a planning application for the site.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for Transport, said: “These are two much-needed schemes for our town centre. We have wanted to improve the transport offer for Grimsby Town centre for some time.
“These schemes will help us connect people with the town centre, drive use of the town centre and is a good fit alongside the money being spent on improving the town centre too.
“The residents of North East Lincolnshire deserve a fit for purpose transportation hub that allows quick easy access to public transport services in a central location near to rail, retail and town centre amenities, and that’s what we want to give them.”
Image credit: North East Lincolnshire Council
