A gentleman from Alford penned a letter about Mablethorpe this week, After reading it, I could sadly not find one point of his views that i could disagree with,
The Town has changed so much in the last 10 years Sadly not for the better in parts.
This is a great place to live, from a community point of view. With so many here pulling together to make it better But unfortunately the negetive elements are starting to overshadow the good points of this town.

I agree, however, fingers crossed regarding Lindum Plans which look good. Just imagine, Tesco plus another S/Market, I can't believe it plus the rest of the Plans. Fingers crossed. Got to happen this time, surely.

I'll say now I haven't read this letter unless someone can post a link to an online version.

From the point of view of someone who lives outside the town now, Mabo seems to have improved greatly. There are far more facilities than there used to be. You now have a Boots which is useful. The place is full of families when it used to be just a place people came to retire. because of all the new(ish) people, there seems to be more community activism. It might not be much but there was none before. There is more going on socially with more events for all ages. There's more newspaper coverage and more unique and quirky reasons for people to visit or move to Mabo ie the beech huts. Artistically there seems to be more going on. New shops are planned and always opening even if it's only for a season - at least they are trying.

The price to be paid for all this new energy will be crime and vandalism - it's a combination of frustrated youth and/or the inevitable consequences of so many people being on the dole. A few of them will turn to criminality and fraud as it seems easier - they've been brought up in a general culture of individualism for the last 30 years so unless they are particularly thoughtful they won't care about anyone else. To be honest - this is happening in many places and is not specifically a Mabo problem. Teenagers always hate Mabo - I did and couldn't wait to go to Uni.

Whereas Alford seems to be expiring painfully. Every time I go there are fewer shops open. Businesses take a wide berth and Alford itself is becoming a dormitory village where people who work in Louth (like my brother) live. It's nice an pretty; it's crafty and arty. There's money there but they don't spend it in town. It has its own problems with drugs and vandalism but those people will probably do most of their socialising in Mabo, Louth and Skeggie and their criminal behaviour will follow them.

Mablethorpe is ugly as sin but it has its plus points too.

Things are definately being planned for Mabo and not before time. There will be a riot if plans are turned down, we are desperate and have waited long enough for improvements and investments.
Let us hope there will be plenty of public support although my husband does not approve of building on land used for growing crops.
There are plenty of new events taking place in Mabo achieved by a mix of long and short term residents. The Community spirit is getting better and people are working together to improve the Town. We do need more investment in the Town in order to compliment our wonderful beach.
Hopefully, there will be more employment opportunities for younger ones although we need better roads for access to Mablethorpe.
Time will tell.

mablethorpe is now on the move and not before time, thanks to the new town centre manager,
and quite a few members on this site. if the proposed new developments go ahead we may see a huge overall improvement follow on from it. I think the now empty shops will be took over by well known names, the first being cooplands. Maybe the hsbc will be took over by one of the new banks opening in the uk. hopefully the council will improve the visual street amenities.

I do hope so, and i'm in total agreement about the town manager she is making a difference, but she needs more help/ volunteers to bring things off. She amazed a lot of doubters recently when she took the failing angel festival event down spanish city recently and turned it in to winter wonderland and made it a great success that can be built on in the coming years.

Well said Steve, but we need more new volunteers as all the Groups and Committees have the same people who can only spread themselves so far. It is more important than ever to get stuck in this year with all the cutbacks. If we all take the attitude that," why should we volunteer to improve the town when we pay tax's etc.". Fair comment, but do we just let the Town fade or do we all do our bit to keep and improve what others have worked on. If we want investment in Mablethorpe it has to be a vibrant and attractive place to large Retailers. The attendance at some of the local Public Forums lately has dwindled somewhat so please,let us all do what we can, however small.
Happy Christmas and New Year to you all,
Pam B