HOPES FADE FOR NEW TOURISM-FOCUSED AMENITY BUILDING ON CLEETHORPES SEAFRONT

                                                        

Said to be a 'prime site', so why the lack of interest from developers?

ALMOST two years after planning consent was awarded, there is still no prospect of work starting on a proposed new tourism building on the site of the former Waves pub in Cleethorpes.

Worse, there is no indication that any commercial developer is even slightly interested in what North East Lincolnshire Council believes to be a prime piece of real estate on the other side of the road from the pier.

Nor is there any indication yet that NELC has a Plan B for the land which thus remains a hoardings-surrounded blot on the seafront.

The disappointing lack of progress came under the spotlight at a meeting of the authority's tourism scrutiny panel.

According to officers, the pandemic is to blame. They say that, had it not been for Covid, the development would have been "well underway".

Now that the disease is taking less of a toll, they believe "the leisure market will begin to normalise, and this is expected to lead to stronger occupier- and developer- demand."

If the lack of interest continues, the council says it "remains open to considering alternative options from developers or investors for the site", though it currently has no ideas of its own.

NELC's agent for the site is Hull-based property consultancy, PPH, which describes the location as  "a prime resort centre suitable for a variety of retail uses".

The Grimsby News says: The lack of progress on developing this site reflects unfavourably both on the council and its agents. Dynamism and imagination seems to be wanting. In the run-up to spring and summer, there is, alas, little to indicate an end to the torpor. The need for a revitalised approach is all too obvious. Can someone please give the two organisations a bit of a nudge?

Ugly hoarding screens the site which is opposite the pier