First images of £55m stadium plans revealed

EARLY stage images of the new £55m Community Stadium and Leisure development in Grimsby have been revealed.

Grimsby Town and Extreme Leisure have partnered on the Peaks Parkway, a 14,000-capacity football stadium, a new ice rink facility, as well as retail and food and beverage offerings and a residential provision.

The partnership said the development will create 320 jobs for the area, excluding construction jobs.

Extreme has secured full funding for the development, including expressions of interest/pre-let agreement for 50% of the development with a national leisure operator.

Extreme has now completed the early stage viability assessment of the Community Stadium project, a formal planning application is the next step.

These images will be shown to the North East Lincolnshire Council in a cabinet discussion on 18 January 2017.

If given the go-ahead, Extreme will be proceeding with pre-application planning and will draw up a masterplan.

Town director John Fenty said: “We are delighted to have teamed up with Extreme and are looking forward to progressing the relocation. Although the Council’s decision on whether to support this pioneering leisure project has been delayed until January, it will not stop us progressing with plans in anticipation of a supportive outcome.

“This project comes at a time when North East Lincolnshire is on the cusp of significant growth. That growth, together with this project, will see an explosion in employment and new business opportunities.

“I truly believe that we need to make North East Lincolnshire a great place to live, work and play,
and projects of this nature can only help with those objectives.

“I really hope that everyone can unite behind this scheme and make it a reality for the benefit of the wider community, leaving a lasting legacy for generations into the future,” John added.
Alistair Gosling chairman at EXTREME commented: “We have been working hard behind the scenes to come up with an exciting solution for the delivery of the Community stadium and additional Leisure facilities.

“If approved at Cabinet we will be instructing a thorough consultation process so that we can deliver a vibrant and quality new development that will attract visitors, provide regeneration, invest in local facilities and support Grimsby Town FC.

“Our professional team have also taken into account some of the concerns raised at this early stage. We look forward to working in partnership to turn the Community Stadium projects into reality.”

Cllr Ray Oxby, Leader of NELC said: “I’m pleased to hear the club and its developers are pressing ahead with their proposals and I look forward to seeing them presented in more detail at our Cabinet meeting in January.

“As both myself and colleagues have said previously, while we’re determined to do all we can to see a new community stadium built, we must follow a strict process when there’s the potential for public property and resources to be used.

“We’ve always said we want to get the best deal for the borough, but this doesn’t happen overnight and it’s important that we consider all the relevant issues to inform any decision before a location is chosen.”