Shopping centre price reflected state of car parks

The purchase price of Freshney Place shopping centre in Grimsby was cheaper due to the condition of the car parks, North East Lincolnshire Council has said.

The authority bought the centre after it went into receivership in 2022 for less than the asking price with cash from the government's Future High Streets Fund.

The council said it was planning repairs to the shopping centre’s two car parks because water was penetrating their structures.

A meeting was held by councillors to discuss the costs of maintenance before the work is authorised.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a council report on the car parks said repairs to the concrete structures would take about 18 months.

The report said the two car parks, which have 849 parking spaces, were “open to the elements and in worst condition”.

The document stated if the work was not done, water would “continue to penetrate into the concrete" and degradation would occur "at an accelerated rate”, which would shorten the car parks’ life expectancy.

The estimated costs of the works have not been made public, but councillors were made aware.

Councillor Philip Jackson said no borrowing had been required when the council purchased the centre for under the £17.1m asking price using £16.5m from the Future High Streets Fund.

He said the knowledge that future repairs to the car parks would be needed was reflected in the lower purchase price.

Councillor Paul Henderson, who opposed the council’s purchase of Freshney Place, asked: “How many more hidden costs are there?"

“I’d like to request no further expenditure on Freshney Place until there’s a full, accurate treasury business case, passed by scrutiny and cabinet,” he said.

Jackson said the leisure scheme “will be reporting back more fully over the next month or so”.

“The alternative to not spending money on maintaining the car park at Freshney Place is that it continues to deteriorate,” he added.

“That would eventually make the car park unviable."

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.