Imps game off after more COVID-19 cases

South Kesteven District Councillors have approved a £1.3million spend to demolish the majority of the former Cummins site in Stamford in order to start building a major new development.

The council’s St Martin’s Park proposals for the site, along with a field next door owned by Burgley Estate, were approved in October and the authority’s full council on Thursday voted in favour of putting the money aside to move forward with the build.

When finished, the Barnack Road development will include 190 new homes, a retirement village of a further 150 homes and a series of business units.

It will also include a convenience store and café, as well as public open space and cycle and pedestrian access to the parkland to the south of the site.

Council leader Conservative Councillor Kelham Cooke said: “This is the next stage in the journey of St Martins Park and presents the district with an amazing opportunity not just in Stamford but across the whole of the south of the district.

“For many years, businesses in Stanford have been unable to realise their potential in the town due to the lack of available space… many key businesses have been forced to move to other towns nearby.

“St Martins gives us the opportunity to not only capture a number of businesses looking for a footprint in the town, but also to realise high-skilled high-wage employment opportunities to for existing and future residents of our town.”

“Naturally, of course, we should avoid spending such sums where possible, however, the cost benefit analysis in this instance, suggests that the potential it will bring to our district strongly outweigh this fee.”

How the site would be laid out.

The demolition will see the removal of all but one of the buildings on the site.

SKDC bought the site for £7.5million in 2019 and declared it in its corporate plan for 2020-23 as being strategically important for its growth ambitions.

Councillor Nick Robinson supported the report, adding: “It’s an exciting time both for the the mix of changes we’re bringing in the development and for the expansion of Stamford.”

Councillors were mostly in support, though some had questions around climate change, the finances and just a £250,000 contribution from Burghley Estate.

The councillors delegated authority to the chief executive, in consultation with the leader of the council, and enter into a contract with GF Tomlinson to undertake the works.

A year six teacher with coronavirus has been teaching her class virtually from home as a Lincolnshire primary school continues to battle against staff shortages.

The Richmond School in Skegness had 20 staff off last week, meaning some children had to be sent home. At one point there was just one adult for 60 children, which the school decided “wasn’t safe”, so the reception class was closed last week, as well as on Monday, January 24.

This week there are 14 staff off sick and the school is working hard to manage the situation.

But year six teacher Emma Green was determined to carry on and is teaching her class virtually from home while recovering from coronavirus.

She told BBC Look North: “I have been told on numerous occasions I don’t need to, however I don’t feel that poorly so I feel like I still need to give and I still want to be part of the class.

“We’ve been quite short across the school, particularly lower down in the school, so anything that I can do to help if that means my teaching assistants can be deployed somewhere else and I can teach my class then that’s fine.”

Headteacher Caroline Wellsted said: “It meant we had to close our reception class for the whole of last week and Monday of this week because I only had one adult in school for 60 children and it just wasn’t safe.

“There have been other odd days when I’ve had to close just one class in some year groups because staffing levels have dipped to an unsafe level.”

When asked how school staff in the county have been affected since they returned from the Christmas break Martin Smith, assistant director for education at Lincolnshire County Council, told The Lincolnite: “This continues to be a challenging time for schools, who are regularly having to deal with staff absences. Every school is different and the situation changes on a daily basis.

“However, at this time, schools are managing to adapt and remain open. I want to thank school leaders and their teams for their resilience and commitment at this time.”

Grimsby’s Freshney Place shopping centre has been placed into receivership.

The struggling shopping centre is now in the hands of its lenders following financial difficulties.

It will remain open as normal, with former owners Capreon continuing as the centre’s managers.

North East Lincolnshire Council say plans for Grimsby’s new cinema and market hall are still being worked on.

Receivers Cushman and Wakefield were appointed on January 18.

This happened days before the landlord of New Look – whose landlord is not  Freshney Place – unexpectedly left the lease.

Letters have been sent to Freshney Place traders in the past week informing them of the change.

It is another blow to retail in Grimsby town centre after two years of challenges from the pandemic.

“However, Capreon have assured residents that work will continue to develop the planned multi-screen cinema and new market hall, which are a joint venture between Freshney Place and North East Lincolnshire Council.

A spokesman for Capreon said: “We can confirm that Cushman & Wakefield were appointed as Fixed Charged Receivers over Freshney Place Shopping Centre on January 18, 2022.

“Capreon has been retained by the receivers to continue their role as asset managers for the shopping centre which will remain open for trading as normal.

“We will, of course, also continue to work with North East Lincolnshire Council in the delivery of the proposed new cinema and market hall for the town centre following the successful award of the Future High Street Fund grant monies last year.”

North East Lincolnshire Council said the receivership will not affect plans for regenerating the high street.

A spokesperson for the council said: “As reported, Capreon has confirmed that it is to continue its role as asset managers for the centre and will continue to work with us in the delivery of the proposed cinema and market hall for the town centre following the successful award of the Future High Street Fund grant monies last year.

“The situation therefore remains unchanged, and we move forward with our plans for the complete regeneration of the Western side of the centre taking in the existing Market Hall.”

North East Lincolnshire Council and Freshney Place are to both contribute £5million towards the project, with £17.2million being provided by the national Future High Streets Fund.

Demolition on the existing market hall is expected to begin later this year if a planning application is approved.

Freshney Place were approached for comment and a spokesperson said they had nothing to add to the statement released by Capreon.