Cod Almighty | Article
by Nigel Lowther
5 October 2012
This article is published in this week's edition of the locally-owned Cleethorpes Chronicle. Thanks to Chronicle Editor Nigel Lowther for allowing us to print it here.
So the debate about a possible new football ground for Grimsby Town rumbles on.
Following the abandonment of the Great Coates scheme, the club and developers Simons are carrying out a feasibility study, with the support of North East Lincolnshire Council, into putting a new ground on land off Peaks Parkway. Their findings will be made public next year.
I'm prompted to put an idea forward, partly because BBC Radio Humberside's Dave Burns mentioned it on his show on Tuesday. Grimsby Town needs a new ground. The redevelopment of Blundell Park is a non-starter.
The board should have had the foresight 40 years ago to start buying up the houses behind the Main Stand on Harrington Street, to enable a new stand to be built. However, as all supporters know, foresight and Grimsby Town rarely appear in the same sentence.
I've always believed the building of a new stadium presents a great opportunity to make a statement.
While other clubs have forged ahead, supported by local councils, our new ground has been buried under an avalanche of petty politics and personality clashes.
A new stadium is a chance to create a an exciting project that will generate pride in the community.
The stadium project can be used to solve a series of issues the area has wrestled with for decades: New council offices, the regeneration of Freeman Street and revitalised docks.
My solution would be to build a community stadium that would incorporate offices within its stands on Grimsby docks. Impossible, some will say. Landowners Associated British Ports would not entertain it.
But I've always believed you have to focus on the finishing line, not on the hurdles before it.
Has ABP ever been approached with a serious proposition? It is a commercial organisation with shareholders to keep happy. Let's make it a substantial offer.
And what about the money? Well I'm certain such a project on the East Marsh would attract considerable European and Government funds, something Great Coates' postcode was never going to achieve.
The enabling development that would help pay for the ground would be North East Lincolnshire Council.
New Grimsby offices (keeping open Knoll Street to serve Cleethorpes) would save money from running its many bases across North East Lincolnshire.
The closing of the inadequate Municipal Offices in Town Hall Square has been broached before, but it's a political hot potato to be talking about building new council offices while council tax payers struggle to pay bills.
Putting new offices within the new stadium complex could be justified on cost-saving alone and alleviates those issues. And then there is the positive impact on Freeman Street. Putting 1,500-plus council staff on the docks would draw service sector businesses, such as sandwich bars and coffee shops, to the area. The failed regeneration attempts would be a thing of the past.
Combine the offices with educational facilities - building on the success of Grimsby Town's community projects - and it would create activities seven days a week.
You could even throw in the new swimming pool and create a wonderful leisure hub, right in the heart of Grimsby.
And what about incorporating the ice factory into the project and sorting out that controversy too?
Bus routes, major roads to the site, even a railway line... the docks have superb communication and such a project would sit neatly alongside the renewable energy sector that is generating job opportunities too.
So here they are, thoughts I've harboured for some years as a frustrated Grimsby Town fan and somebody who believes in this area. North East Lincolnshire has so much potential but it needs -visionaries to drive ambitious plans forward that would transform the area.
Is somebody prepared to stand up to the plate?