Decision made on Abbey Walk Car Park's future

Abbey Walk Car Park, Grimsby, will be demolished
-Credit: (Image: NELC)


Demolition of Grimsby's Abbey Walk Car Park will go ahead.

North East Lincolnshire Council 's Cabinet met on Wednesday evening to decide on proposals to demolish the four-storey car park and replace with a ground level-only car park. Separate but linked plans for a bus hub in Grimsby town centre were also decided on.

Councillors agreed to proceed with both schemes. Abbey Walk Car Park could be demolished by spring next year. "It will improve the outlook and the vista of the southern part of the town centre, we will have much better views of the town hall, for example," said council leader Cllr Philip Jackson.

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The car park was temporarily closed in May due to structural concerns. Four options to remedy the car park were considered, with its demolition and replacement with a ground level facility recommended to councillors.

The replacement with a ground level car park is subject to a full review of town centre car parking provision, prompted by feedback from a transport, infrastructure and strategic housing scrutiny panel.

The demolition and replacement is provisionally expected to cost between £1.5 to £2.5m. The suggested ground floor car park would have around 80-120 car park spaces.

The transport hub will be located between Osborne Street and Garden Street. The council bought up a number of vacant units in 2022 to enable the hub in the future. The units are due to be demolished at the same time as Abbey Walk Car Park.

Garden Street Car Park will have to be closed during the works on the transport hub. With this in mind, £150,000 has been set aside to renovate Burgess Street Car Park, to make it more attractive to visitors and expand its capacity by redesigning its layout.

For the transport hub, the council has earmarked an initial £3.6m. This is made up of £1.7m from the Bus Service Improvement Plan and £1.9m from the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF), dependent on the proposed Greater Lincolnshire devolution deal.

The full cost of the project though will only become clearer as technical designs are worked out. Cllr Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for housing, infrastructure and transport, said the hub would provide the "quick, easy access to public transport services in a central location" that people deserved.