All aboard the viability campaign...

Contemplating my first cuppa on the 6.45am to London King's Cross while leaving my Cleethorpes house at 6.35am would be something to savour.
I was 11-years-old last time you could go direct from God's favourite seaside resort to the capital. Nowadays when work takes me south I have to change at Doncaster - or drive to Newark - and if it wasn't for the ability to work on board, I might just as well keep going on the A1. Not even another 10 per cent on fuel could make it a no brainer.
But now under proposals from rail company Grand Union - following the success of the direct high speed route from Sunderland to London - we may finally have the opportunity again.
It is at an early stage, but already those in business are buzzing at the possibility.
Now we have to help Grand Union make the case. Show that we want and need it. Both local authorities on the South Bank, the MPs, the strategic partnerships and the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce need to show their unwavering support.
Make Grand Union feel welcome and who knows what the benefits could be. There have been murmurings about redeveloping Cleethorpes for sometime, and turning Grimsby Town station into transport hub too. Why not bring it all together, on time, so we can all leave/arrive at a super-duper platform together.
PS: If we get to Wembley again maybe Grand Union could run a timely train too. Poop poop for the play-offs.

Business out tomorrow - online Wednesday

WIND turbines were in the news last week – and they blow back into your 40-page Business tomorrow.
While Novartis and the South Bank industrial community are coming to terms with the refusal for permission to co-power the pharmaceutical plant on Grimsby’s Moody Lane, town firm Energy Creation has been busy tying up deals at the opposite end of the scale – small vertical axis units for homes and commercial buildings.
We meet the northern soul psychologist who is behind plans for the redevelopment of the Yarborough estate, and report on the buy-out of a body shop, major investment in print facilities and expansion at an accountancy practice.
There is the usual peek at the key sectors within the area and 12 pages of commercial property. Readers can find out what E-Factor activity there has been in this sector, and meet Andrew Clark as he answers our questions.
All this and lots more, in tomorrow’s Telegraph.

Baffled, bemused, but not windswept.

WHAT are we planning for? A nice nest and global warming, or a green future with Grimsby as an example to UK plc and the world?
North East Lincolnshire Council planning committee's decision to refuse an application by Novartis to build wind turbines to part-power its plant leaves me asking just that.
Once again the cruel twist of fate that makes Britain's most important port and chemical complex a site of specific scientific interest to Natural England has sided with the birds. The food chain is long gone as the deciding factor, now feathers come before futures.
There's a growing tide of feeling that all this has gone rather too far. Outgoing chief executive George Krawiec is one, many other business leaders are on the same boat. True they have a vested interest, but we really need a reality check.
Jobs, economic prosperity, long term commitment to the town...
This specific application would have drastically cut Novartis' external energy needs and therefore overheads. What a signal to an international blue chip company that this is exactly where they should continue to invest. But no, the golden plover and his mates win again. I beg Novartis to appeal, waste my council tax and win.
As reported in Humber Gateway( http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=258891&command=newPage ), our recent ports and logistics special publication, new Grimsby & Immingham port director John Fitzgerald is baffled by the fact that there is only one wind turbine on all of ABP's port estates.
Perhaps he found his answer in today's paper.