August 3, 2022 2.19 pm This story is over 19 months old

Council submit £20m ‘Levelling Up’ bids for Grimsby and Cleethorpes

Transforming Cleethorpes and re-inventing Grimsby
A bird's eye view of Grimsby Town Centre. | Photo: North East Lincolnshire Council

Three major bids for Levelling Up Fund monies that could kickstart an ambitious transformation of Cleethorpes, and re-invent Grimsby Town Centre, have now been submitted to Government.

The bids, for nearly £20m each, are centred around continuing the transformation of Grimsby town centre, including a better public transport hub, and funding the first key schemes to come from the Cleethorpes Masterplan work.

Supporting the bids, Council leader Cllr Philip Jackson, who has Portfolio Holder responsibility for regeneration, said: “Our ambition is real, and matches that of the people of this borough who have engaged in the process over the years and helped us shape the future of our towns.

“However, we must wait for the Government’s decision on these later in the year,” Cllr Jackson continued. “There will no doubt be a lot of authorities submitting bids – indeed in the first round, there were more than 300 bids, and just over 100 awards.

“It’s a competitive process, and one which we’re not guaranteed anything, but we’ve done our best to put forward great cases as to why money should come here and support these projects.”

The authority is allowed to submit one bid for each constituency – one for Cleethorpes and one for Grimsby, with another ringfenced for transport projects. The constituency bids have to be approved by the MPs, with letters of support submitted with the bids.

The following bids have been submitted:

  • A constituency bid of £18.5m for Cleethorpes which will incorporate schemes identified in the Cleethorpes’ Masterplan as important strategic development locations, and deliverable within the timescales. The area of focus is Market Place, Sea Road and Pier Gardens.
  • A constituency bid of up to £20m for Grimsby. This would be used to carry out work to bring leisure activities to the town centre alongside the previously announced cinema development.
  • A transport specific bid of up to £20m for the development of a transportation hub in Grimsby Town Centre alongside the provision of a fleet of zero emission buses and associated infrastructure.

Cllr Jackson continued: “Through these bids, we have put forward ways in which we can make real, positive change that will benefit our town centre economy in Grimsby and our local and visitor economy in Cleethorpes for years to come.

“We now look forward to what we hope will be a successful bidding round and we can move forward with the projects.”