NELC' leader's upbeat note on proposed salmon-breeding unit: 'It will create well-paid jobs'

                                                         

Wildlife-rich - the grassy site earmarked for the proposed salmon-breeding unit.

OPTIMISM has been sounded on the controversial salmon-breeding unit proposed for the site of former railway sidings in Cleethorpes.

The project was temporarily delayed when a welfare charity, Animal Equality, secured  a judicial review into the validity of the process by which North East Lincolnshire Council granted planning consent in November 2023.

But early last month, the judge upheld the NELC decision, paving the way (almost) for work to start.

At last night’s full council meeting, NELC leader, Cllr Philip Jackson, welcomed the decision as "positive" for the area.

"It means the developer, Aquacultured Seafoods, can now proceed with the £120-million project which will create 100 well-paid jobs," he declared.

The leader concluded his observation with criticism of an unnamed Independent councillor on the planning committee whom he alleged had been party to the judicial review.

"That’s disappointing," he said.

Before work can start on the unit, Aquacultured Seafoods, which has maintained a low profile almost from the day the project was unveiled, still faces a huge challenge to raise the required financial capital.

Likewise, it is also required to produce detailed information on the entire breeding cycle of the Wall butterfly - the rarest of more than 20 butterflies which live on a wildlife-rich patch of land which sits on the edge of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.