BRIGG WORKERS NEED TO BE ON THE BUSES WHEN ABLE UK SITE OPENS

A Barton 450 service bus picking up passengers in Cary Lane, Brigg. Could this service be extended to provide a worthwhile way for workers from our town to get to, and from, the Able UK development at Killingholme/East Halton once it opens for business?

It seems to be all systems go for the new £450-million Able Marine Energy Park in North Lincolnshire, creating an estimated 4,000 jobs. 

But we've heard nothing about improved public transport links from Brigg so people in our area, without cars, will be able to get to the park, situated on the border between East Halton and Killingholme.

Although there's a railway line close by to the development, we can discount any hope of passenger trains being provided - at least in the short and medium terms. 

No, what's needed is a regular bus service linking the Brigg area to this very welcome new development.

How many of the jobs being created will be with firms that operate 24 hours a day is too early to say, but there may be a requirement for buses for 6-2, 2-10 and 10-6 shift workers, as is the case with the current Service 4 operated by Hornsby's, from Brigg to the Lysaght's Enterprise Park,  Scunthorpe.

A sign that the Able UK development has been "moving ahead at full speed over recent months" came this week when a Government Minister paid a visit. 

Penny Mordaunt, Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government, was at the AMEP site, where enabling works have been under way since the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles visited last August and confirmed a £15-million grant provided through the Enterprise Foundations for Growth Capital Grant Fund.

During her visit, the Minister was told of the scale of the preparation work at the site, which covers more than 900 acres and will provide 1,289m of new heavy duty deep water quays designed specifically for the marine renewables energy sector.
The work so far has included importing well over 1-million tonnes of stone over a 150-day period and laying 590,000 sq m of specially designed membrane over an area equivalent to more than 100 football pitches.
Work on site preparation will continue over the coming months, with construction of  quays expected to get under way by next summer - before which Able aims to confirm a first tenant for the site.
Coun Liz Redfern, Leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said: “The project will initially create over 4,000 direct jobs, as well as attract brand new industry into the South Humber Bank, and new growth opportunities for our manufacturing and engineering sectors."