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| After-dark tennis has become an option at the Barretts Recreation Ground in Cleethorpes following the installation of six floodlights by locally-based electrical specialists Townsend. The courts are operated by the company, We Do Tennis, and can be booked via the website https://wdtvenues.co.uk/nelincs-parks |
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| Wait and see! It is still not known whether Pleasure Island redevelopment will go ahead |
THERE has been a late twist in the great Pleasure Island redevelopment saga.
Lawyers have entered the fray.
Just hours before councillors were due to determine the proposal at this morning's planning committee meeting in Grimsby Town Hall, North East Lincolnshire Council received at least one - possibly two - lawyers' letters, warning them not to proceed.
The contents of the letter(s) were not read out at the meeting, so those members of the public in attendance were left in the dark.
But the message was plain. If the committee were to approve the application - as recommended by senior planning officer Cheryl Jarvis - then a legal challenge might be pursued in the High Court.
Following a new recommendation, this time from NELC's legal team, the committee resolved to defer deliberation of the application pending further consideration of the application.
Deferment was backed by committee chairman Cllr Matthew Patrick (Lab, Heneage) with support from both from Cllr Henry Hudson (Con, Wolds) and Cllr Hayden Dawkins (Con, Humberston & New Waltham).
It subsequently emerged that one of the letters has been written by the law firm representing Tesco which is unhappy about the prospect of a Lidl discount supermarket opening on a patch from which its Cleethorpes superstore draws many of its customers.
It is possible that the Pleasure Island application might be determined at the August meeting of the planning committee, but it seems just as likely that the new wrangling could drag on into next year and possibly beyond.
The Grimsby News says: This matter has been handled unsatisfactorily by NELC. The legal correspondence had missed the deadline for submissions and so should have been disregarded. Failing that, it should have been read out to the committee so that members could have formed their own judgement on whether it represented a vexatious, delaying tactic by opponents of the scheme or if it has genuine merits. The temptation now for the applicants will be to bypass NELC - on the grounds of non-determination - and submit their proposal direct to the independent national body, the Planning Inspectorate.
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| The country park - beautiful but fragile |
CLEETHORPES Country Park is set to face increased visitor pressure if the Pleasure Island redevelopment project goes ahead.
It has emerged that a proposed cycle-hire scheme will encourage holiday visitors to follow a route from the lodges to the country park via an existing grass path that runs between the Premier Inn and Cleethorpes Golf Club.
The proposal comes in the wake of a stipulation from Natural England that lodge residents should be discouraged from cycling or walking along the foreshore for fear of causing disturbance to Knot, Dunlin, Curlew and other at-risk shorebirds.
Whether this initiative is wise is open to question.
The country park is already a popular destination for both residents and visitors, but it is a fragile environment where the wildlife is just as vulnerable to human and canine disturbance as that on the sandflats.
It used to be a breeding site for species such as Grasshopper Warblers and Great Crested Grebes but not in recent years.
The redevelopment application is due to be considered at a meeting in Grimsby Town Hall tomorrow morning, July 8.
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| Prospective Pleasure Island lodge visitors will be encouraged to follow a cycle route that leads to Cleethorpes Country Park |
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A Newcastle design firm, One Environments Ltd, has come up with this concept of how an 'improved' path might look
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