Hundreds of local residents are facing the prospect of having their lives ‘turned upside down’, due to Shoreline’s decision to demolish the East Marsh High-Rise Skyline.

Nearly 650 people will be moved to new homes across the North East Lincolnshire away from the six high-rise blocks in Grimsby and the Comber Place maisonettes, which will all be demolished.

The decision follows a public consultation period between May 28 and August 1, during which 52 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of demolition, with 42 per cent against.

However, 68% of the residents who live in Nelson House rejected Shoreline’s proposals and wanted the High-Rise Flats to be re-furbished.

The Grimsby Telegraph reported today:

Councillor Steve Beasant (Lib Dem, East Marsh) said he will fight the decision, which he calls “appalling”.

“I am absolutely livid,” he said. “I am fighting this now.

“Where are they going to put the residents now? They want to stay in their neighbourhood, where they’ve got everything they need in the East Marsh. They have facilities and transport links right on their doorstep.

“They have had enough of this. I know residents who live there who are in their 80s and 90s.

“I can’t believe it, it’s an appalling decision. I just don’t know the logic behind it. They have to replace the blocks with housing.”

It was yesterday that I commented to the Grimsby Telegraph, and I expected that I would have a busy schedule with the media, today.

I started with a Radio Humberside interview outside Garibaldi House at 7.15am; then at 10.am an interview with Phil Norton on BBC’s Look North; followed by an interview with ITV’s Calendar News and then finishing with an interview Viking FM.

In my Look North interview, I told Phil:

“I am devastated for the local residents who live here – it is a community.

“Local residents don’t want to live in Humberston, Waltham or Immingham they love living around here – they just don’t want to be displaced to other parts of North East Lincolnshire. They have all of their friends and family living close by.

“Only just across the road is Freeman Street Market, there are many of their local shops down Freeman Street; they have Asdas and other supermarkets all within walking distance of the High-Rise Flats.

“This decision is not just devastating to the residents, it will devastate many local businesses who will lose a great deal of trade and where will the new trade come from.

“There is no firm plans to build any housing, and as a Ward Councillor I want to see houses being built on this site – it needs to be phased process over a number of years.

“I now think back to last week’s Full Council, when one Labour Councillor, said: What the East Marsh needs is the new Grimsby Town Football Stadium.

“If this is what he envisaged with the demolition of the High-Rise Flats he will certainly have opposition from me.”