I am working hard to encourage private investors to consider Grimsby as a viable possibility for putting their capital into local infrastructure. Funds put into the right projects, in the right places, can bring great prosperity to a town such as ours. For example, and also with a sea-faring history, Liverpool had many run-down areas before Liverpool One shopping, residential and leisure complex emerged from 42-acres of deprived central city land, by private investors the Grosvenor Group. The project took untouched bomb sites from the Forties and dated concrete buildings, demolishing them to create the largest open-air shopping centre in the UK. The project breathed new life and prosperity into the old Paradise Street area of Liverpool.
Of course, this is an example of what private investment can do – Grimsby already has its own, ongoing town centre projects – but it is this sort of transformational investment I am working hard to bring to our town.