Decision looms on new Grimsby SEMH free school
Councillors will decide next week on plans for a free school off Albion Street
Last updated 7th Feb 2026
Senior councillors are to decide next week whether to go ahead still with a new free school planned at the site of former high-rise flats in Grimsby.
A free school for children with social and emotional mental health (SEMH) needs has long been planned off Albion Street, in the East Marsh area of Grimsby.
North East Lincolnshire Council’s cabinet approved moves to create it back in 2022, bidding for Department for Education (DfE) backing. In 2023, the DfE did commit to funding the creation of the SEMH free school.
But the former high-rise flats site has remained empty since, and ward councillors late last year expressed frustration at the Government for the lack of progress. Now, the council’s cabinet will face a choice between two options when it meets on Wednesday, February 11.
It could choose to continue with the new 150-place SEMH free school. This would be a DfE construction and primarily funded by central Government.
However, the council would be expected to provide further cash to the project itself, £2.3-£2.4m. This would take the council’s own contribution to the school’s creation up to £3m in total.
Option two is to not go ahead with the school. In its place, the council would get from central Government a £7m capital grant to deliver a programme of smaller-scale projects to create specialist places in mainstream schools throughout the borough.
The report that the council’s cabinet will decide on includes a council officer’s recommendation to continue with the SEMH free school project. It is noted in the report the school would be expected to help make annual savings by removing the need for children to travel out of the borough for their education.
A similar choice is being faced by a number of locations across the country. In December, the DfE announced it would offer councils the opportunity to spend the cash for possible new special needs schools on other projects to improve education for children with additional needs.
Since then, North East Lincolnshire Council officers have had extensive discussions with partners and considered the options available. This includes investing further in resource specialist provisions similar to those unveiled recently at schools in Healing, Scartho and Waltham.
The council is responsible for costs to make the land off Albion Street ready to be built on, or abnormal costs, like flood mitigation measures. Environment Agency advice last year raised flood risk as an issue to be addressed.
The previous high-rise flats were demolished in 2018, having stood there since the 1960s. At one stage after their demolition, the site was even mooted as a possible place for Grimsby Town FC to relocate to.