2016 - Build The New & Preserve The Old In Skegness

Build the new and preserve the old, that should be the mantra for 2016. Build the new, The Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre Restaurant on Pier Field and preserve the old, The Pavilion in Tower Gardens. Both of these projects have been rumbling on long enough and should now be resolved. Lot's of people have had their say in lots of ways and it is now time to put that behind us.

Of the two projects, the easiest one to bring to fruition will be The Premier Inn development. It will bring new investment into the town to the tune of £7.5 million and will bring much needed all year round employment. In addition, I believe that it will attract a new clientele to the town and the very fact that an international company such as Whitbreads, the owners of Premier Inn, are showing such faith in Skegness will encourage more large companies to do the same. The recently announced Travelodge interest is testament to that. In my view the case has been made and this should now go smoothly forward to allow the construction of the development to begin so that the new businesses can open in 2018. 

The Pavilion in Tower Gardens is a whole different proposition. Although the present effort to save this building has been running for nearly two years, the end of the saga appears to still be some way off. Two things need to be achieved to allow this project to go forward. Firstly, there needs to be a professional, solid, workable and viable business plan that will ensure that the building will be a real proposition going forward for many years. The £50,000 of funding that has been achieved via the

The Pavilion as it stands now.

Coastal Revival Fund should allow that to happen and should be a huge boost in driving the project forward. It is hoped that the subsequent business plan will be acceptable to East Lindsey District Council and that it will allow them to release the building to the community. Once that has happened then the next challenge, a huge one in my opinion, will be to access funds for the renovation of the building to allow occupation and use of it. Various, wildly differing, sums have been put forward regarding the cost of doing that but whatever the actual confirmed cost, raising the monies required will be exceptionally difficult, not impossible, but exceptionally difficult. Hats off to the community group that is battling away to bring The Pavilion back to life. I hope that 2016 will finally bring this to fruition. 

So 2016 could bring new life to the town and resurrect old life. Would that not be a great outcome?