By Mixed reactions as council given approval to buy Freshney Place
Last night it was announced that North East Lincolnshire Council has been given approval to buy Freshney Place shopping centre in Grimsby.
The shopping centre went into receivership earlier this year, with the council now buying the site in a bid to regenerate the town centre.
Members of the Full Council approved the purchase of the shopping centre – a recommendation that was approved by the Council’s Cabinet in June. The Full Council meeting heard from Leader Cllr Philip Jackson that the purchase was ‘vital’ to ensure a healthy future for Grimsby Town Centre.
The news comes as it was also revealed that local cinema company The Parkway is the operator behind plans to open a big screen within the planned new development at the western end of Freshney Place.
The current Top Town Market is set to move, making way for leisure activities with a cinema a priority. Cllr Jackson expressed his delight that it was a local company involved, allowing the Top Town cinema to complement its operation in Cleethorpes.
Cllr Philip Jackson, leader of the Council, said: “We needed to take this course of action to make sure we can continue to deliver our transformation of the urban heart of Grimsby. If we didn’t agree to buy the centre, it could be bought by someone who is unwilling to invest and the decline of the heart of our town centre would be devastating.”
The centre makes up 60 per cent of the town centre’s retail offer, supporting one in five jobs within that area.
“To enable this regeneration to continue, Freshney Place, a huge space in our town centre, must have a stable future. If this becomes Council-owned, this would mean that we could take Freshney Place into account when we’re looking at the transformation of the whole of our town centre, potentially bringing in different offers, using the centre in different and more modern ways to reduce its current over-reliance on retail.”
Despite the council’s certainty that this is the right move for the area, some locals are convinced as they believe the money could have been spent elsewhere.
One local wrote: “Great to know the good old council can fork out that sort of money when the roads are full of potholes, the streets are full of uncollected litter and hardly any public toilets open at all but hey by all means spend that money on things we don’t need like another cinema.”
Some mentioned the current cost of living crisis, adding: “Wow build a cinema that no one can afford to go to because we can even afford food and gas and electric brilliant move, NOT!”
However, some were pleased with the news as roughly 1,700 jobs have been saved by the buy, plus many feel that it could prevent locals from travelling out of town to shop.
One such person said: “Thank goodness for that. Lower the rents and get more shops open. Let’s bring some life to the town.”
Another added: ” Let’s hope they drop the rent on shops to encourage some decent retailers. A few common sense decisions could easily turn around the town! Fingers crossed that parkway put in some reclining seats and other upgrades! That’d be huge!”
What do you think of the news? Let us know in the comments!
