Green light at last for Grimsby Seafood Village – Fishupdate.com

GRIMSBY’s £3-million seafood village plan has finally received the go-ahead – almost five years after the scheme was first conceived.

Local planning councillors approved the venture which will help transform the port’s fish processing sector and lay the foundations to carry the industry into the future.

Construction work is expected to begin in the next two weeks with compeltion scheduled for Easter next year.

Peter Dalton and Gary Cadey, joint managing directors of Grimsby Seafood Village Ltd,  and the two men who thought up the  project, said they were delighted. “It is great we can finally crack on,” they added.

In the first instance, the seafood village will safeguard the future of 20 existing businesses and some 500 jobs. But it is also  widely expected to create many future new jobs.

Built on a four acre plot of derelict dock estate land, the plan  involves creating an L-shaped two storey building to accommodate 20 processing units and offices. Completion is expected by Easter next year.

More importantly, it will give the industry a long needed modern image which it can proudly show off to the rest of the country. The seafood village  will largely replace the ‘Casbah’ a maze of dock estate back alleys housing dozens of old Victorian fish houses, which will eventually be pulled down.

Steve Norton, chief executive of Grimsby Fish Merchants’ Association  attended the planning meeting to speak about the benefits and opportunities of the seafood village.

He told Fishupdate that ultra modern and more hygeinic facilities would help to impress the supermarkets and this will eventually lead to more orders. “There will be a real improvement in the perception of the Grimsby Seafood Industry at bnoth national and local level,” he added. “It will certainly strengthen our reputation as the seafood centre for Europe.”