A regional daily has issued a front page call to get a new community stadium for its patch built.
The Grimsby Telegraph has called on the authorities to seize a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to build the new stadium, which would be home to Grimsby Town Football Club.
The club has confirmed plans to move to a new site at Freeman Street, in the east Marsh area of Grimsby, and the Telegraph has now called on bot the Tory government and Conservative-run North East Lincolnshire Council to make the development a reality.
The newspaper launched its call with a front page editorial on Tuesday, pictured below.
It reads: “What we need now is action to deliver a transformational project. This is not about a football pitch or a tinpot stadium. This is about something much bigger.
“We believe this can be a community facility where hundreds of people travel to daily. Within the stadium complex, under and behind the stands, need to be places where people go to work, learn, play and live.
“For the first time we also have political alignment to act in the town’s broader interests; a Conservative government talking to a Conservative ruling council in an area represented by two Conservative MPs.
“In political terms that is a recipe for a triumph – or an embarrassing pitfall if the opportunity is squandered.”
The Telegraph went on to call for government and the private sector to help Town fund the stadium – suggesting organisations including Grimsby Institute, the University of Lincoln the NHS, businesses and schools could also be based at the site.
It added: “A community stadium would be just the start of the East Marsh regeneration. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It would be unforgivable to waste it.
“Now we need the people with the drive and vision to see it through.”