Chicken-processing giant says proposed poultry-processing project 'could support 1,400 jobs'

                                                         

           

A HUGE poultry-processing  'facility' could be established on a site to the west of Grimsby's Europarc business estate.

Hessle-based food giant Cranswick Country Foods plc - which is better known for its pork products - has earmarked 30 acres (12.1 hectares) of agricultural land for the venture.

The company's agents say that, if it goes ahead, the venture "would support "in excess of 1,400 jobs and contribute to the continued consolidation of Europarc as a key centre for food manufacturing within the region". 

They project "a throughput of up to approximately 1.75 million birds per week" and 200 HGV movements per day.

Cranswick and its partner, Wykeland Properties Ltd, have acknowledged that, once operational,  there might be an odour impact on the nearest residents which include the Beechwood Farm pub which is only 100 metres away.

Says the agents: "The development would comprises the construction and operation of a poultry processing facility of approximately 25,000 sqm (gross external area), including: 

▪ A processing building with integrated plant, equipment, associated offices and facilities  

▪ Effluent balancing, water storage and associated wastewater conveyance infrastructure   

▪ Yard areas, loading bays and internal HGV circulation routes  

▪ Ancillary infrastructure including fuel storage, utilities, and service areas  

▪ Landscaping, surface water drainage, and site access arrangements.  

"The facility would operate on a continuous or semi-continuous basis, with processing, dispatch, hygiene and supporting functions running across extended periods."

The proposal is under consideration by North East Lincolnshire Council planners.

                                 

The site proposed for the chicken-processing operation

Bring on the padel! Home of Cleethorpes Town FC could soon welcome fast-growing racquet sport

                                              

Anyone for padel? The Linden Club on Clee Road, Grimsby

THE grounds of the Linden Club on Clee Road in Grimsby could soon be playing host to a fast-growing sport.

The club has submitted a planning application to install four outdoor floodlit padel courts plus  a shipping container to be used for  changing, along with gates, pathways and associated works.

If planning consent is granted by North East Lincolnshire Council, the courts would be located on grassland in the north-west of the site.

The Linden is home of Cleethorpes Town FC and also has cricket pitches, while the clubroom often hosts social events.

The popularity of padel - sometimes described a cross between tennis and squash - is reflected not just by this planning application but by another one, submitted earlier this year, for  a court to be built on the site of the former Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes.

Subject to no unforeseen and  overriding objections, both are likely to be approved later this summer.

Agents for the Linden say: "The proposal makes effective use of an area of  underutilised grassland and complements the existing sporting and recreational facilities on the site. 

"The development will deliver clear community benefits by introducing a growing and inclusive sport to the local area, promoting health and wellbeing, and supporting the continued investment and sustainability of Cleethorpes Town FC and the wider Linden Club facilities. 

"The scale, layout, appearance and materials of the courts are appropriate to their setting and will not adversely impact the character of the surrounding area. 

"Access arrangements, drainage, flood risk, landscaping and security considerations have all been appropriately addressed, with no detrimental impacts identified. 

"The proposal therefore represents a sustainable and well-considered form of development that accords with local and national planning policy objectives." 

NELC's planning green light for solar farm on farmland on outskirts of Grimsby-area village

The Stallingborough field that has been earmarked for a solar farm

THE planning thumbs-up has been given for a solar farm to be built on 387 acres of farmland outside a Grimsby-area village.

At this month's North East Lincolnshire Council planning committee, councillors backed the proposal by London-based Island Green Power to install the panels and storage batteries on a cereal field off Riby Road in Stallingborough.

A small part of the site comes under the jurisdiction of West Lindsey District where the parish council in Keelby was opposed to the project.

Said its spokesperson Cllr Robert Dannatt: "We as a full council strongly object to this proposal for the following reasons -

1. As Keelby is sighted directly next to the proposed development therefore it will have a profound effect to the village due to the loss of natural views across open farmland and the unsightly view the the village will have to endure for many years.

2. The safety risk to all that live in Keelby due to the large battery storage that is known and documented to have a toxic environment and health impact to all that breathe in the fumes in the event of a fire that cannot be put out only managed. 

3. The loss of good quality farmland that, in the event of a further world disaster, would help us to maintain our independence.

4. The loss of property value in the village without any guarantees that all will be compensated for the full term of the project.

5. The village will not benefit by way of reduced energy bills as the electricity that is to be produced on this site is not going directly to our grid.

6. We have environmental concerns due to the number of run-off water courses that go from the village and travel through Stallingborough before entering the Humber Estuary.

7. We have the backing of most of the village when we say that we strongly oppose this.

However, councillors did not find this objection compelling, preferring the observations of landowner and farmer Harry Burt, of Riby Grange Farm, who addressed the meeting.

"The land we have put forward for solar is not our most productive. 

"It is heavy clay land, which often is too wet to plant. 

"If weather permits and we do manage to plant a crop, we have seen numerous crop failures due to wet weather and heavy weed burdens in the soil, namely black grass, a weed that is extremely hard to control in arable rotation. 

"Long periods of grass fallow would seem very beneficial to the soil to add structure and lower the weed burden, so future arable production on the land can thrive." 

He insisted: "This is not a permanent change of use. Solar does not mean the end of agricultural production.

"We are not just arable farmers, but have livestock too - this being beef cows and a small flock of sheep. 

"In the event of solar been installed on the land,  we are exploring opportunities to graze sheep on the land, retaining some agricultural production alongside energy production. "

A condition of consent is that mitigation must be provided for loss of habitat for Skylarks, Grey Partridges, Yellow  Wagtails and other farmland birds that nest on or around the field. 

Setback for Cyden Homes as NELC planners turn down proposal for 300 new homes in New Waltham

                                                                          

The arable field earmarked for a new housing estate

THERE was a blunt message to Grimsby-area housebuilders at today's North East Lincolnshire Council planning committee.

Cllr Ron Shepherd warned them: "We're not going to bend down and tell them they can build more houses.

"We need to get this message across to developers."

Cllr Shepherd (Con, Scartho) went on to say that he would be "embarrassed" if the authority were to approve a proposal for construction of  up to 300 houses on agricultural land west of Louth Road in New Waltham.

The application had been submitted by locally-based Cyden Homes that prides itself on giving employment to 90 staff and supporting local manufacturers and suppliers.

But, whooped on enthusiastically by between 30 and 40 residents, councillor after councillor spoke against the proposal which was unanimously refused after  planning case officer Bethany Loring explained that the greenfield site had not been designated for development in the Local Plan.

Said Ms Loring: "This development would bring visual intrusion into open countryside to the detriment of the character of the area."

She also noted that Cyden had declined to provide a survey of the land which is of archaeological interest because crop circles have been detected.

And she also expressed misgivings about the potentially adverse  impact on overwintering birds including waders and wildfowl if the project were to go ahead. 

Other speakers in the 50-minute discussion included Cllr Ian Lindley (Con, Scartho) who was critical of a highway officer's report that the proposed development would have "no significant impact" on traffic flow.

Noting that traffic is invariably heavily congested in rush hours, he described the officer's comment as "absolutely ridiculous".

In the past, Cyden Homes has sometimes appealed (successfully) when NELC planning decisions have gone against it, but, on this occasion, it might think twice about doing so given that the site is outside the development boundary. 

                                                          

The proposed layout of the development if permission had been granted

                                                    

Proposed 44-lodge park near Tesco superstore should boost employment - but at a cost to nature

Some groundworks are still required before the lodges can be brought on site

 

ALTHOUGH  some trees have been retained on the boundaries, most of the private woodland near the Cleethorpes Tesco superstore has now been cleared to make way for a 44-lodge holiday park. 

Much of the clearance work on the site off Hewitts Avenue was carried out last year. 

The works have created employment, but one downside of the proposed development is that, with the loss of most of the trees, there has been an inevitable forfeiture of habitat for wildlife including unusual songbirds and butterflies. 

It has not yet been announced when the next stage of development will take place, nor when the park is likely to open for its first visitors.

How the mighty are fallen - but at least some trees have survived

                                                     

The boundary trees  screen out the adjacent Altyre Way car showrooms

The proposed lay-out of the lodges is indicated in this design submitted by Cleethorpes-based Hodson architects   
                                                 

Alive with songbirds, butterflies, bees and wildflowers - the same site as it was before the trees were felled

Sun likely to shine favourably on plan to build solar farm following firm's assurance on fate of Skylarks

                                             

The Skylark - a declining farmland bird that has inspired many poet with its long liquid song usually uttered high above ground  

ALTHOUGH it says it still has "significant concerns" about a proposed solar farm being built on a field outside a Grimsby-area village, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has withdrawn its initial objection.

The  trust's  change of tack follows an assurance by the developer that an adjacent 16.5-hectare field will be managed for the benefit of farmland birds such as Skylarks that will be displaced from the application site - a medium-grade  arable crops field off Riby Road in Stallingborough.

When a bird survey was carried out of the field two summers ago, it revealed the presence of 58 species, including up to 20 Skylark territories.

Also recorded were other increasingly scarce farmland species such as: 

* Grey Partridge

* Cuckoo

* Lesser Whitethroat

* Yellow Wagtail

* Yellowhammer

* Stonechat  

* Quail 

* Grasshopper Warbler.

No Barn Owls were sighted during the survey, but there are two owl nest boxes within the site, and fresh owl-regurgitated pellets were found during an internal inspection of a small barn.

The applicants for the Stallingborough Energy Project are London-based Island Green Power which is a wholly-owned  subsidiary of the multinational Macquarie Asset Management company,

Island Green Power says it will mitigate for the loss of the Skylark field both by creating new habitat for this species on the  neighbouring  field and by installing  60-plus nestboxes, including four for Barn Owls.

At a planning meeting in Grimsby Town Hall next Wednesday April 22, North East Lincolnshire Council case officer Richard Limmer will recommend members to approve the application.

The Stallingborough field that has been earmarked for a solar farm

                            

Crunch planning decision expected next week on proposal for up to 300 homes on greenfield site between Waltham and New Waltham

                                                                  

The site off Louth Road which has been earmarked for the controversial development

There could be a setback for local property developer Cyden Homes' proposal to build up to 300 houses on agricultural land to the west of  Louth Road on the boundary of Waltham and  New Waltham.

At a meeting next Wednesday April 22, North East Lincolnshire Council's planning case officer, Bethany Loring,  will  recommend that councillors should refuse the application.

In her  report to the committee, she states: "The proposal would extend into the rural landscape between Grimsby, Waltham and New Waltham, resulting in a visual intrusion which would be detrimental to the character and value of this countryside location. 

"Due to this extension into the rural landscape, the housing and its extent would be more prominent and dominant when compared to the existing. 

"It is recognised that the indicative details include a landscaping buffer to the sites southern edge, but the loss of the field and its replacement with a housing estate would fail to have regard to the intrinsic character of this countryside location." 

The report continues: "It is a pleasant landscape with rural qualities and  a sensitivity to change. "

More than 60 nearby residents have lodged objections to the project as have both Waltham and New Waltham Parish Councils.

Meanwhile, another objector, Cllr Ron Shepherd (Con, Scartho), is expected to speak against the application at Wednesday's meeting.

On an ornithological note, winter bird surveys were conducted twice monthly from November 2025 to February 2026 - a total of eight visits. 

In total,  49 bird species - including Barn Owl, Green Sandpiper and Great Spotted Woodpecker - were recorded foraging for food or flying over the site. 

Even if the committee refuses the plan, it might not be the end of the story.

Cyden Homes could submit an appeal with the independent Planning Inspectorate, though this might not be heard until next year.                                            

Barn Owl and Great Spotted Woodpecker are among the bird species seen on periphery of  the field