South Kesteven District Council leaders say Grantham Market Place works to finish by August

Council leaders say works on Grantham’s Market Place will be completed in August unless neutron bombs hit the town.

South Kesteven District Council’s Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee was updated on Thursday about the Grantham works and efforts to mitigate their impact on local businesses.

Leader of the council, Coun Ashley Baxter (Ind), told councillors: “The scheme started on 7 May and it, hopefully, concludes on 19 August or earlier. 19 August is the most likely date notwithstanding neutron bombs or whatever.”

The works are part of a £4.1 million investment, which includes removing Market Place parking, installing a new natural stone surface, and creating a single-level space across the whole area for events.

A second phase will improve the town approach from the railway station to create a pedestrian-led environment, expected to start in November.

Broader efforts to rejuvenate Grantham Town Centre include refurbishing public toilets, redesignating car parks for short stays, and providing grants to improve shop fronts through the Heritage Action Zone funding.

But the works have caused concerns for local businesses who fear they would impact footfall. One business has even publicly attributed their closure to the works.

Coun Baxter acknowledged that the works have caused some consternation.

However, he suggested the reports were “potentially overstated” and presented footfall data dating back to May 2023 which showed that overall footfall in the town centre was higher this year than last year, even in the first half of May when the works were ongoing.

Spikes in the data occurred on Tuesdays, when most people work in an office, and Saturdays, when Grantham Market is held.

Data showed, for instance, that from May 2023 to 2024, visitor numbers for Narrow Westgate and Grantham Market increased from 124,669 to 152,323, while for the town centre area they increased from 1,469,212 to 1,687,803.

Much of the debate focused on concerns about the accuracy of the footfall data, which was taken digitally using a virtual boundary known as a Geofence and using GPS, RFID, WiFi, or other sensors from mobile phones.

Several councillors questioned if the reported figures of over 50,000 daily visitors to the town centre seemed plausible.

Coun Tim Harrison (Ind) said: “Are you really telling me the whole population of Grantham walks through the town centre every day? 1.6 million in a month equates to 56,000 people every day.

“I struggle with believing that overall figure.”

Coun Matt Bailey (Con) disagreed that there had been no significant decrease in footfall, based on speaking to local businesses.

“Anyone who has visited the Market Place and spoken to the businesses will get the real picture and I'm sure every business will disagree with this report as well,” he said.

The boundaries of the Geofence used to measure footfall were questioned as including areas like supermarkets that some felt should not be considered the town centre, while other businesses such as Tap and Tonic were not included.

Councillors requested a breakdown of the footfall data by location and time to better understand the patterns.

Coun Richard Cleaver (Ind), however, said that for the specific Narrow Westgate and Grantham Market Place figures, the maths worked out at around 5,000 a day, or 500 an hour over 10 hours.

“That isn’t that outlandish to be fair,” he said.

The council is examining ways to mitigate the impact, including a £45-50,000 summer activities programme, promoting street entertainment and various events to attract people to the town, a potential voucher or loyalty card scheme for Market Place businesses, including a prize draw, and a long-term £25,000 promotional activity alongside incentives such as free parking and other grants.