The 80s and 90s plans to modernise our resort including ‘Disney-style monorail’
WHILE SOME VISIONS FOR CLEETHORPES WERE BROUGHT INTO REALITY, A FEW NEVER EVEN SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY
CLEETHORPES has seen a fair few grandiose projects touted over the years, some of which have come to fruition while others have sadly fizzled away.
In a promising development, earlier this year an exciting masterplan to rejuvenate the resort was unveiled by award-winning designer Wayne Hemmingway MBE and was approved by North East Lincolnshire Council’s cabinet a few weeks later. The proposals include a regeneration of the North Promenade, and a pedestrianised Market Square among other improvements.
Of course, it’s not the first time a grand masterplan has been proposed though some were perhaps a little too ambitious to come to
ife, including repeated rumblings about bringing the resort into the 21st Century with elaborate schemes including a proposed tram or even a monorail.
In March 1986, the then Cleethorpes Borough Council unveiled some big plans in a report called The Way Forward. In it were ambitious schemes for an ultra-modern railway station near Blundell Park, a new superstore and hotel, and an amenity area around Chapman’s Pond.
Other proposals included a tram or monorail to run right along the seafront along with a new shopping development on the car park in St Peter’s Avenue; a new hotel next to the Wellow Hotel; a council-run chalet and caravan and a giant country park. The plan was to bring the proposals to fruition within the following 15 years.
The report said: “These proposals should help take Cleethorpes into the 21st Century. They will increase the town’s attractiveness, resulting in an upward spiral of prosperity – although it will not happen overnight.”
The most innovative plan was to move the railway station to a site near Grimsby Town’s ground, although the idea was advanced “that a transport inter-change adjacent to Chapman’s Pond might be preferred”.
The plan was to link the new station with a new transport system running the length of the seafront and that could mean a hail-andride mini-bus service. But the report went further and said: “More sophisticated and appealing forms of transport such as a tram or monorail may, because of its attractiveness in a holiday resort, prove economically viable.”
The site of the existing station on the North Promenade was ear
marked kd to be b used d as a massive superstore with a hotel, which would include an auditorium and conference facilities.
The country park – which, of course, did eventually go ahead – was also, according to the 1986 report, to have a fish farm too. Caravan sites in the area would be spruced up and Cleethorpes Council wanted to lead the way by providing its own caravan and chalet park.
Even Chapman’s Pond was in the development frame with an idea that it could become the centrepiece for an “amenity area”. Windsurfing championships were also said to in the pipeline. The report went on to predict that Cleethorpes would be able to boast all the facilities by the year 2000.
The far-reaching report also suggested that an exhibition centre and sports stadium could also be built at the site of the old zoo once the lease ran out. That site, of course, became Pleasure Island, which opened in 1993 before closing for the last time at the end of the 2016 season. Plans are now being finalised to transform the site into a ‘Center Parcs by the sea’ holiday destination featuring f more than h 200 luxury lodges along with a Lidl supermarket, Home Bargains store and a Costa Coffee.
On the subject of Pleasure Island, a few years after The Way Forward plans were published, the monorail idea came up again when it was reported that Cleethorpes was on track for a “£3-million Disney-style” transportation system that would link one end of the resort to the other.
The theme park had drawn up plans for the futuristic railway which would put the town ahead of other British seaside resorts.
However, Trevor Pullin, managing director of Flamingo Land and Pleasure Island, said the company would only go ahead with the idea if there was backing from other local businesses.
He revealed the general manager of Pleasure Island was hoping to meet Euro MPs and see if any funding was available.
“It would be a Disney-style monorail and certainly put Cleethorpes on the map”, he said.