GRIMSBY Town has been given another year to formulate a plan to redevelop green land into a new community football stadium.
North East Lincolnshire Council's Cabinet yesterday approved a 12-month 'exclusivity agreement' to allow the club to look at how it could redevelop land west of Peaks Parkway into a new 14,000-seat stadium and retail development.
The club has been searching for a site for a new home since 1994 and, after being knocked back in a bid to build on land in Great Coates, eyed the 22.7-hectare site between Peaks Parkway and Weelsby Avenue, which includes allotments and a former council depot.
Councillor Andrew De Freitas, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Park Ward, presented the council with a new petition of 450 signatures against the plans for the stadium, which he said he had collected in just seven days.
Addressing the cabinet, he said he felt "very strongly" that the site would be inappropriate for a football stadium, pointing to traffic congestion, the nearby proximity to the crematorium and cemetery, and St Andrew's Hospice, as problems.
He also said fans being "marched through" from the train station in Grimsby town centre, particularly before and after derby matches, would bring added disruption.
"Many mourners go to the cemetery on a Saturday afternoon to lay flowers and it would be horrific to have a situation where people who are mourning should have to put up with chanting football fans," he said.
"There will have to be a major junction added on Peaks Parkway, something which was never envisaged when the road was built.
"This is not a case of 'not in my back yard', it is totally inappropriate to have that type of development.
"There is a serious danger that the properties in Weelsby Avenue would be blighted by this."
Allotment holder Martin Jacklin's attempts to speak during the meeting were denied, but he did hand the cabinet a fistful of Grimsby Telegraph cuttings reporting on the recent violence between Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United fans to support his opposition.
He said after the meeting: "This will have a huge impact on us, we love the peace and quiet of our allotments.
"I suffered from cancer three years ago and my allotment helped me recover. I received a get well card signed by nearly every other allotment holder, which shows there is a great community here.
"The council is supposed to be promoting exercise and good health and it seems like they want to take it away from us."
John Fenty, Grimsby Town director, said development partners Simons Development Ltd had withdrawn into the background, but remained a "willing developer".
The realisation of the stadium still hinges on whether the club can find an "enabling" retail partner to secure the required investment.
A report to the cabinet revealed that, in the past year, "some market interest" has been expressed but no retail operator with immediate plans for delivery has been found.
The cabinet's decision includes the condition that the 450-name petition, and previous petitions, be taken into the consideration of any stadium planning application.
'New stadium proposal is not a pipe dream'John Fenty, Grimsby Town director We are delighted at the decision as it gives us the time to go through the motions we need to get things done. It is an ideal location, it is central and is right next to an arterial route, which would cause the least congestion. We don't think it is a pipe dream, I don't think anybody would deny that at Blundell Park we are suffocating, you could spend £10 million redeveloping and it would not make a difference. Wherever you go you are going to upset somebody. It's disappointing that Councillor De Freitas has not approached the football club with these issues, which have already been raised in the past. We want to work with residents to actually appease these issues. For example, we believe the project could help alleviate the burden of traffic in the area around Peaks Parkway.Follow us on Facebook and Twitter