Saturday, December 08, 2007

HIDING THEIR LIGHT

The sale of the former Brigg County Primary School site, in Glebe Road, for £1.1-million was no surprise. It's obviously a very attractive one, not far from the centre, and many people are keen to live in our town, with its varied atttractions.
What it surprising, though, is the way North Lincolnshire Council has gone about things. Where was the big announcement about the site coming up for auction in London? Surely the more would-be developers who knew about it, the more interest there would be, possibly resulting in a higher end price.
Then, once the land had been sold, why didn't the council step into the limelight and take a bow?
For a quick hunt through the Telegraph's digital archive revealed North Lincolnshire Council contributed £1.9-million towards the £5.2-million needed to build the new primary school on Atherton Way.
And that would suggest to those of us schooled in maths at the Glebe Road seat of learning who can subtract 1.1 from 1.9 that the council has managed to provide a super new school at a cost of only £800,000 to the chargepayers.
What a bargain! So why has the authority been backward in coming forward to claim such a triumph?
It will now be interesting to see what happens when a planning application is made for housing on the Glebe Road site. Will it result in objections about increased traffic in an already congested area?
This column has already suggested the creation of a road through the new development to link Glebe Road and Grammar School Road (coming out near the Ancholme Inn). Taking things a stage further, the council could also investigate making Grammar School Road one-way between Glebe Road corner and the Ancholme.
Traffic heading from the town centre direction would be allowed down Grammar School Road but vehicles leaving the housing estate and heading up Grammar School Road would have to take the new road at the Ancholme and come out on Glebe Road.
Grammar School Road is currently very congested, and this might be worth looking into.
What do you think?

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