Former job training centre site in Grimsby to be turned into 23 homes
The project was approved despite some locals raising traffic concerns
A former employment training centre in Grimsby is to be demolished and make way for 23 new homes.
North East Lincolnshire Council’s planning committee decided to approve the project on Wednesday morning, despite vocal traffic concerns of some residents. One argued there would be a “tragedy waiting to happen” with more traffic in adjacent streets.
The site is located opposite Macaulay Primary Academy. It is one of four Grimsby schools that has been participating in a pilot scheme to restrict road traffic to improve safety. Launched on December 5, School Streets sees a temporary ban on vehicles at school drop-off and pick-up times. In Macaulay Primary Academy’s case, this has been in force at 8.30am to 9am in the mornings and 2.45pm to 3.45pm on schoolday afternoons.
The council highways made no objections to the proposed development and the planning case officer concluded it would not cause a severe impact on nearby roads. There will be at least one off-road parking space for each home.
But neighbours objecting to the development have still largely focused on traffic congestion concerns and that included Labour Cllr Tim Mickleburgh. “I am worried about the impact of extra traffic that will be produced,” he wrote in his objection to the scheme as a Boulevard Avenue resident.
“Already it is very busy on a morning during the hours of the school run. There is no crossing opposite Macaulay Street to make it safe to cross, and traffic coming from under the subway don’t signal that they are turning left until they have passed the crossing that exists on Boulevard Avenue.
“Often I find myself already in the middle of the road until I know that I vehicle will be coming into Macaulay Street.” Cllr Mickleburgh called for “at the very least” a pedestrian crossing over Macaulay Street to be installed.
The 23 homes built on the 0.52 hectare site will be a mixture of seven semi-detached properties with three bedrooms, and terraced housing blocks all also having three bedrooms each. The site was the location for A4e Action for Employment vocational training.
But it has been shut for five years and unsuccessfully on the market too. Its dilapidated state is also referenced by Dieter Nelson Planning Consultancy Ltd in their design and access statement on behalf of the developers Anston Homes. “The building is way beyond commercial repair.
“Most of the buildings are asbestos clad which is in poor condition. Electrics and plumbing are sub-standard and the office block roof is in a state of collapse.” Dieter Nelson go on to argue turning it into a residential area will produce a regeneration of a brownfield site. It will also improve the neighbourhood’s character, removing “unsightly buildings” and increasing biodiversity through green landscape planting.
The application itself acknowledges concerns emerged before officially applying for planning permission about vehicle access and car parking supply. As a result, the development will involve vehicle access via Lister Street and there is no car parking provision proposed on the side facing Macaulay Street.
But not all residents have been convinced, with a handful making forceful objections in opposition. An objector from Lister Street wrote it was “absolutely ridiculous” to suggest access via there due to its narrow nature. The individual even warned that current traffic was “astronomical” and to suggest more would create “a tragedy waiting to happen”.
“Lister Street has parking both sides which is often fully used which only leaves enough space for a single vehicle to pass,” wrote another neighbour objecting from Macaulay Street.
Some residents have also had drainage concerns, safety due to the asbestos currently on site and worries over the potential for anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping in a new pedestrian passageway towards the school.
Cllr Mickleburgh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that in the past West Marsh Ward in which the site is located had funding for alleygates to be installed, helping tackle fly-tipping. But money for these kind of measures did not seem to exist now. “Obviously, the council say that alleyways are the concern of residents but when you’ve got elderly people and people who are disabled, they can’t necessarily clear the alleyway themselves. And it just sort of builds up.” This explained some residents’ unease over this specific part of the development.
Ultimately, the various reasons for objection put forward by the small number of residents who have openly opposed the homes were rejected. Neither drainage nor Anglian Water objected to the 23 new homes, though some surface water drainage conditions were recommended. The development build will also be subject to conditions covering working hours and a contamination assessment of the site.
As for traffic, the planning officer acknowledged it “may generate more
traffic than the site did historically”. But it would “not be at a level that would cause a severe impact on the highway network” and councillors were recommended to approve it.
It was not unanimous but by seven votes to two, permission was granted for the demolition of the run-down former training centre and the 23 new homes in its place. Cllr Mickleburgh is a member of the planning committee but was excluded from voting due to his written objection.