New Grimsby central bus station plan to be considered

Grimsby's former bus station was closed in 2013 and replaced with a number of on-street stops

A North East Lincolnshire town could have a central bus station again for the first time in nearly a decade if new plans get the go-ahead.

Grimsby's buses have operated from a number of on-street locations since the Riverhead bus station closed in 2013.

The proposed new £10m hub would allow extra services and cut waiting times in a bid to encourage more people to use public transport, officials said.

It would also provide live bus times, a ticket office and CCTV, they added.

The plans are part of a bid by North East Lincolnshire Council to secure £39m of government funding for public transport improvements over a five-year period.

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The return of a centralised bus station for Grimsby was among the most popular requests by users during a recent consultation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Bus user and former councillor Keith Watkin said: "This would certainly be a major improvement. It was a mistake to get rid of the bus station in the first place.

"The anti-social behaviour and drinking around the bus shelters puts people off going into town at the moment. Hopefully this would solve that problem," he said.

According to a council blueprint, the new bus hub would replace "a sub-optimally dispersed collection of stops" with a "high-quality" facility close to the town's retail centre.

A final location for the central bus station had yet to be identified, it added.

Most services would also call at the railway station, the proposals showed.

Bus operator Stagecoach said if the bid was successful, it hoped to increase its evening and Sunday services.

The proposals are due to be discussed at a meeting of the council's economy scrutiny panel on 12 October.