The fact that some 'For Sale' signs in Brigg are soon being replaced by 'Sold Subject To Contract' set us thinking about the popularity of our town as a place to live and also how many new homes are in the pipeline to add to the existing housing stock.
Pictured here are three Brigg 'Sold' signs evident on the same residential street yesterday (Monday, April 26) and another we encountered elsewhere a few minutes earlier while visiting the town centre.
In the case of the three properties within 100 yards of each other, they weren't 'For Sale' very long before firm offers were forthcoming.
Many other Brigg residents are busy extending existing properties as an alternative to moving. These schemes always generate considerable interest when Brigg Blog features their progress through the various stages of the planning process, usually culminating in permission being granted by North Lincolnshire Council.
Brigg's obvious appeal as a place to live means that demand can exceed supply and additional properties are needed.
Builders and developers - large, medium and small - are keen to meet the town's needs.
At the top end of the scale, Keigar has now started building a development which will provide more than 60 new houses off Bridge Street. Another scheme for land elsewhere on the former Falcon Cycles and Corah factory site recently received approval for new apartments to be built.
Former cycle shop premises on Bridge Street will be demolished with three town houses and a retail unit erected on the site.
Still awaiting decisions from council planners are schemes to build more homes near the northern end of Island Carr Road's industrial estate and also properties near Barnard Street on the other side of the A18. Town housing is also planned behind Dean Wray's carpet shop, with access from Engine Street. There is also a 'pending' application for additional housing on land off Westrum Lane.
North Lincolnshire Council has the former Youth Centre on Grammar School Road and the ex-community hub off Horstead Avenue on the property market for sale at present and is suggesting that both sites will be suitable for accommodation, subject to planning permission being obtained.
Approval was given several years ago for a sizeable block of apartments to be built on currently disused land near the railway station but this has failed to proceed... so far.
More medium or long term, perhaps, is the so-called Brigg North Development - a huge scheme for new housing on fields within sight of the Recreation Ground, Wrawby Road, the Springbank estate and the M180, stretching as far as Grammar School Road and Atherton Way.
Last, but my no means least, is the conversion of existing Brigg buildings into residential accommodation.
It's now a couple of years since the grade two listed Nelthorpe Arms pub closed on economic grounds and was soon converted to provide additional town centre housing without altering the outside appearance of the premises.
The old police station and courthouse on Wrawby Street were transformed into Courthouse Mews, while elsewhere in the conservation area a former accountant's office on Bigby Street was re-purposed as flats.
These are just a few examples, and we can expect to see more conversion schemes being drawn up in the future.
PICTURED: Current 'Sold' signs near Brigg domestic properties. The town also has a number of other local agents including DDM, Brown & Co, Bell Watson and Paul Fox.
