At the North East Lincolnshire Council’s Community Consultation Event residents were asked whether they were in favour of 100 Guildford Street homes being razed to the ground as part of a proposed £7.9-million redevelopment.

Scores of East Marsh homeowners attended a consultation meeting at the Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre on Tuesday afternoon – just before the East Marsh Involve.

Local residents were shown a number of altenatives of how the street layout could be improved, suggestions included: demolition of 100 houses and building a new meandering road; creating open spaces; introducing pedestrianised areas and create thoroughfares to neighbouring Victor and Weelsby Streets.

As reported, North East Lincolnshire Council is in the process of purchasing the 100 run-down properties in the street – and residents are now being consulted on how the area should be redeveloped.

Mike Haynes, NELC’s interim program manager for the redevelopment, said: “We want to find out from the community how they think the street should be changed.

“We have come up with some suggestions of our own based upon the whole or partial demolition of the existing properties, and we hope these will stimulate some interesting views.”

John Harrison (59) lives in the area of Guildford Street where homes will be given improvement grants.

He said: “Our end of the street is pedestrianised already and it causes no end of problems with anti-social behaviour.

“To start with, I thought the only option was to knock all the other homes down, but after hearing some of the council’s ideas I think the regeneration may be a good thing.“

East Marsh Councillors hope the Guildford Street Conultation will inspire residents to provide the council with their vision for the street.

Councillor Jon-Paul Howarth said: “There are some exciting proposals already and this is just a start of the consultation.

“Once the community starts getting a feel for the project, I hope it will inspire them to say how we can make a change in the right direction.”

Councillor Steve Beasant added: ”I’ve always said that two thirds of the housing should be knocked down and the rest should remain – it needs a new lease of life!

“But the whole point of the consultation is that we have to listen to what residents want and find a solution.

“I like what I have seen so far, but I don’t think the right solution is yet on the drawing board. I have confidence in the local residents to come forward with an attractive and inspirational plan.”

The results of the initial consultation will be used to formulate a draft redevelopment brief.
FIND OUT MORE: Contact the redevelopment team on 0845 8492000.