Grimsby Town Centre is in dire need of a rework and now, with recently acquired funding, North-East Lincolnshire Council is investing into a new regeneration project with hopes of making it a better place for visitors.
Following the steady decline of Grimsby’s high street, the council worked with The High Street Task Force of Manchester Metropolitan University to uncover what changes needed to be made to make the project a reality.
Acting as an independent forum born from the research conducted by the task force. The 2025 Group promotes the changes coming to Grimsby as well as communicating with businesses and the public on any concerns that they may have regarding the project.
Acting as a line of communication between the project, businesses and members of the public is Jose Davies, Ambassador for the 2025 Group.
Speaking on the task force Jose said: ”The task force was set up to work with lots of town centres, city centres and high streets to kind of support them to change the look and feel of their town centre…they spoke to the local businesses and the public”
”the task force went back to North-East Lincolnshire council and said this is how businesses and people are feeling”.
Some of the developed projects that are coming to the area are the Horizon Youth Zone, a NHS Community Diagnostic Hub as well as a brand-new Parkway Cinema, which will not be finished until 2027.
The NHS Diagnostic Hub is the next project due for completion in a few months time, giving the public access to a range of medical services including obstetric ultrasounds, ECGs, X-rays and various pathology and physiological tests. Through the Diagnostic Hub alone its predicted that it will introduce 120,000 visitors to the town centre annually.
Jose said: ‘’It’s an exciting development, it gives people the chance to come into the town centre who haven’t been in a long time…it will encourage people to go and look around the shops and increase footfall’’.
Potentially the most exciting change is the Horizon Youth Zone a space for young people to spend their free time and engage in activities and workshops.
In an effort to deter anti-social behaviour, the horizon youth zone will now give the youth a place to go rather than be out on the street.
Jose said: ‘’The great thing about the Horizon Youth Zone is that [currently] there is nothing for the young people to do so they hang around McDonalds and cause problems…[now] they won’t need to hang around the streets so much because they will have somewhere to go…the Horizon Youth Zone is going to be all singing all dancing’’.
With the inclusion of a climbing wall, sports hall, podcast, music and dance studios as well as various workshops for young people to engage with, the Horizon Youth Zone will be an encouraging space for young people to develop their hobbies with resources they would not normally have access to at home.