Interest from contractors in carrying out revamp of Pier Gardens appears to be lukewarm

Pier Gardens - will it really benefit from Chinese granite paving and other hard surfacing?

FIRMS interested in carrying out for the proposed  revamp of Pier Gardens have been given until noon next Monday, May 12, to submit their tenders bids.

North East Lincolnshire council had hoped that work would already have been underway by now, but interest in the contract has been lukewarm, prompting the deadline for bids to be extended on at least two occasions.

When an open day was held on site, only one firm sent a representative!

The skateboard park element of the proposal has proved popular with young people, but the rest of the project appears to have generated little, if any, enthusiasm.

The council’s cabinet decided to proceed with the venture apparently on the whim of a London-based consultant and an £8.57-million levelling-up grant from Whitehall.

Since then, the scheme has been subject to numerous tweaks and amendments making it difficult for potentially interested contractors to finalise costings.

Because the Pier Gardens site has significant undulations, there is a question mark, for instance, over how many tonnes of earth needs to be either added or removed to flatten the land in readiness for  installation of Chinese granite slabs, gravel and other hard surfacing.

Officials believe the hard surfacing will be just as permeable as the turf it replaces, but can they really be confident that a flash flood would not cause water to cascade into Alexandra Road and/ or Central Promenade with potentially unhappy consequences for traders?

A proposed water feature is also problematic. It is fraught with health and safety issues and myriad possibilities for "things to go wrong" as has been the case with previous water installations in Grimsby’s Top Town.

Controversially, NELC’s administration has opted to proceed without first seeking to obtain planning consent, thereby thwarting any opportunity for scrutiny of the project or for residents to submit comments either for or against the project.

In the absence of transparency, we do not know the advice, if any, of the following

* NELC's heritage officer

* NELC's ecology officer

* NELC's planning department

* NELC's private sector partner, Equans

* English Heritage

* Natural England

* Anglian Water

* Drainage authorities

* Environment Agency

* Humberside Fire and Rescue

* Humberside Police

* The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents

NELC has indicated that this important information will be shared with whichever firm secures the contract - but it should surely be available for scrutiny not just by potential bidders but also by the public. 

A formal planning framework would provide transparency and a form of due diligence. 

Without it, the project runs the risk of multiple misunderstandings and disagreements between council and contractor.  

It is understood that the venture is being overseen by a  Project Board consisting of up to 14 council officers, but no councillors, not even cabinet members nor any of the three Croft Baker ward representatives.

As of mid-February, some £617,000 of the grant had already been spent on consultancy fees, and this figure may now have reached £1-million or more.

                                           

Functional perhaps, but not all that pleasing on the eye - how the north end of Pier Gardens might look 

The Grimsby News says: Pier Gardens probably would benefit from  'refreshing', but that could be achieved at relatively modest cost by replacing much of the existing asphalt hard-surfacing with a more pleasing material  and by more ambitious planting of shrubs and flowers. For the administration to proceed with what looks like an incoherent  scheme without a formal planning process, shows a corner-cutting disregard for democracy which it may well come to rue if (or when) things to start to go wrong. The current administration's track record in project design and management scarcely inspires confidence. Perhaps, its wisest course would simply be for NELC to walk away from this venture, hand back any unspent monies to the Government and crack on with the day job.