SPARROWHAWK THOUGHT IT WAS A WADER!

IT Is often that you see a raptor impersonating a wader, but so it was at Cleethorpes at the weekend.

A sparrowhawk was sampling life as  a redshank -albeit unsuccessfully because of the length of its tail which dragged in the water.

The exercise took place in a large area of standing water  on the Pleasure Island overspill car park

Later the same bird feigned being a duck before deciding to settle on having a good bath.

Part of its strange antics were watched in fascination by a couple of carrion crows.

Life as wader . . .

Or as a duck . . .

 

Or let's just have a good bath!

Whatever- the episode soon started to attract an audience of intrigued carrion crows

END OF THE LINE FOR ANOTHER GRIMSBY PUB

The doomed Grimsby pub - vandalised and with a cellar  prone to flooding

SAY farewell to The Albion - a once-popular pub at178-180 Cleethorpe Road!

Some years ago, poor trading prompted its former owners, Admiral Taverns, to call last orders, and now it is to be demolished to make way for a new three-storey building accommodating a ground-floor shop (probably a convenience store) and four self-contained flats above.

North East Lincolnshire Council has granted planning permission for redevelopment of the site to  Metro C21 Stores Ltd whose sole director is Yorkshire-based Parmeet Kaur Mehat.

Although in poor condition and  heavily vandalised ( with part of the roof missing and a flooded cellar), the property is included in a list of Grimsby buildings of architectural or historic merit.

The move has disappointed  Grimsby & District Civic Society. Members acknowledged that its days as a pub were over but hoped it could be converted rather than replaced.

Ironically, the adjacent BP/ Londis petrol filling station has been promoting itself (on a banner attached to one wall of the Albion ) as 24-hour off-licence - one of the reasons why life has become so difficult for pubs.

CONVERSION SCHEME FOR GRIMSBY DOCTOR'S SURGERY

THE planning green light has been given for change of use of a Grimsby GP's surgery to a three-bedroom dwelling.

North East Lincolnshire Council  has approved Dr S. Kumar's conversion proposal for the property at 164 Little Coates Road.

Dr Kumar & Partners now operate from the purpose-built Stirling Medical Centre on  Stirling Street, off Cleethorpe Road.

NEW HOMES PLAN FOR VACANT CLEETHORPES PUB

                                 

The Imperial - its proximity to Blundell Park once made it a favourite matchday watering-hole for Grimsby Town fans

A NEW use beckons for a vacant Cleethorpes  pub.

A Rotherham-based property company, UC Holdings Ltd,  has secured planning permission from North East Lincolnshire Council  to convert  the Imperial Hotel at 157  Grimsby Road to 16 self-contained flats.

The project, which will include  landscaping, should smarten up a currently unattractive part of the main approach to the town.

Architect for the scheme is Gareth Johnson, of Hodson Architects, a firm based at The Old Post Office on Yarra Road, Cleethorpes.

PAY RISE IN PROSPECT FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS

THE two local MPs, Melanie Onn (Lab, Great Grimsby) and Martin Vickers (Con, Cleethorpes), can look forward to a pay hike in spring.

Along with all other MPs, they are set for a £1,049 increase in April.

This will boost basic salary from £74,962 to £76,011.

The 1.3 per cent boost is above the 1 per cent cap imposed on other public sector workers until 2019.

WORK UNDERWAY ON NEW WINDFARM NEAR GRIMSBY

      

A view of the project from South Sea Lane in Humberston. The two turbines to the right are already  operational at Anglian Water's sewage treatment works, while the other two, which are taller and with longer blades, will soon be joined by six more.

WORK is gathering pace on development of a new windfarm between  Humberston and Tetney.

The eight-turbine project is  on land at Bishopthorpe  Farm close to Anglian Water's Newton Marsh sewage treatment works where there are already two operational turbines.

Even though the applicants, Manchester-based ASC Renewables, offered residents in Tetney, Tetney Lock and Humberston at least £100 off their energy bills each year for 25, the scheme was opposed by many.

Fearful that their initiative would be snarled up in planning red tape at East Lindsey District Council, ASC pressed for a decision from Whitehall which ruled in favour after considering recommendations  from an independent planning inspector.

ASC Renewables are no longer thought to be involved, having relinquished the reins to the Bishopthorpe Wind Farm Ltd whose sole directors, both based in Scotland, are Mark Evans
and  Katy Hogg who are also involved with other onshore wind farm ventures in the UK.

The former is managing director of the UK division of German company Baywa.Re which has an important stake in the Bishopthorpe scheme

Meanwhile, Miss Hogg, who is 36,  is managing director of a firm which operates a nine-turbine farm at Fraisthorpe, near Bridlington.

Cables to connect the new windfarm to the national grid have already been laid, and the whole venture is expected to be operational in the first part of 2017.

Above and below - a specialist crane is being used to hoist the turbine columns and blades into place

DEADLINE LOOMS ON PROPOSED HUMBERSTON FITTIES SALE

Tranquil summer scene at the Fitties

THE countdown has begun on the proposed sale of the Humberston Fitties.

Its owner, cash-strapped North East Lincolnshire Council, is hoping to reap a much-needed £1.5-million windfall by offloading the chalet park either to existing tenants or aprivate-sector operator.

The 56-acre coastal site - along with 320 holiday chalets - is on the books of York-based Edwards & Partners, a division of Leeds-headquartered national chartered surveyors Sanderson Weatherall LLP.

The agents have set a deadline of 5pm on Thursday November 30 for prospective purchasers to submit offers.

For a while, NELC  neighbouring Thorpe Park holiday centre - part of Bourne Leisure - had first refusal.

However, it is understood that the interest of Bourne, which also owns other other holiday parks - plus Butlins holiday camps - has waned.

This is partly because the roads and utilities that serve the Fitties need extensive capital investment.

The company may also have taken fright at the long history of tension between NELC and a vociferous lobby group of some of the tenants.

Much of this has revolved around whether regulations prohibiting overnight occupation during January and February should be relaxed.

Despite recent strengthening of coastal defences by the Environment Agency, the site is also highly vulnerable to flooding by the sea in the event of a freak high tide.

The site brings in an annual rent of about £245,000 to the council, with the tenants mostly paying  between £725 and £800 in ground rent per annum - more if they have larger plots. Many of the leases are due to expire in 2021.

When the marketing drive was launched last month, Adam Burkinshaw, a partner at Edwards and Partners, said: "This is a site that is well known and prominent on the Lincolnshire Coast and one that has attracted a lot of publicity in the past. 

"We anticipate a great deal of interest, both from residents' associations on the site and from the wider world of commercial operators - people who see an opportunity for active management to maintain and improve what has become  a slightly tired site.

"It needs to be modernised and brought into the 21st century."

The southern end of the site, which borders the RSPB's Tetney Marshes nature reserve, also accommodates the premises of a yacht club whose current 25-year lease is due to expire on March 30, 2021. Its rent is £4,500 per annum.

The Fitties is being offered for sale on a 125-year lease at a peppercorn rent.

Below are pictures of more of the chalets plus some other scenes from the site.