Planning Disaster

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 23/07/2000

Planning Disaster

News From 14th July 2000

Grimsby Town FC were left facing a very bleak future indeed after North East Lincolnshire county council voted 20-9 against the proposal to modify the council's local plan to allow the construction of the new ground near Great Coates village.

With the club currently losing £1m a year, this decision is effectively the death knoll for professional football in Grimsby. Blundell Park does not have the facilities for the club to operate as a professional business, and it is very unlikely that the board can turn things around without a new stadium.

What can be certain is that there will be a lot of changes in the new format of NE Lincolnshire council when the next elections are held. With 84% of the population of Grimsby and the surrounding areas for the move, the politicians who voted against the eminently sound proposal will not be forgotten or forgiven quickly.

The decision is just typical of the small-minded attitude of those who live in the town where I was born and raised. This was a fantastic opportunity to raise the nationwide profile of Grimsby and Cleethorpes, but appears to have been turned down in the belief that the world ends at Louth.

I for one will not let this lie. I am considering standing myself as an independent councilor in the next council election and I urge others who feel the same to do likewise. Please contact me if you are interested. I am not going to sit and watch our football club die, it would be like a piece of myself dying.

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