GRIMSBY’s Grant Thorold Library, which closed last year due to funding cuts, has gained new hope of being reopened as a community hub.

Your Community Hub – the organisation that runs the former Humberston Library – and local charity Care4all have gone into partnership to take over the library, based in Durban Road on the East Marsh, with plans to transform it into a popular community centre.

After seeking ideas and input from local community members on how to use the library spaces for the benefit of the local area, the plans have gained further momentum with a Hub In The Park bid being shortlisted for a share of a £400,000 Community Energy Fund run by retailer Marks & Spencer.

The bid is now in the voting stage, and the project co-ordinators need your support.

Jo Barnes, Care4all chief executive, said: “We want to transform Grant Thorold Library into an energetic hub which will serve the local community, but also be sustainable, and this is where the M&S bid idea grew from.

“The money from the bid, should we be successful, would allow us to install solar panels to the roof of the library, making it a more sustainable building going forward.”

East Marsh Liberal Democrat ward councillor Steve Beasant said these type of buildings are “the future”.

“This area will, over the coming decades, be providing the engineers and crews to work on the offshore wind turbines,” he said.

“We need to be building the links between these generations of East Marsh residents and renewable energy now.”

Care4all marketing officer Royce Coates said: “The project desperately needs support from the local community, and I would urge anyone with access to a computer to log on and vote for our project.

“It’s really simple and takes less than a minute.

“These votes could see the local area regenerated around a central hub of social and educational value.”

To vote, go to www.mandsenergyfund.com/project/28373

Voting is open until September 31, and more information can be found at www.mandsenergyfund.com