The Skegness property gold rush: It’s rated the world’s worst vacation resort, however ‘Skeggy’ is now creating a brand new seaside millionaires’ row to rival Sandbanks

Move over, Sandbanks. There’s a new kid muscling in on seaside millionaire’s row… Skegness.

Yes, that’s right. ‘Skeggy’, the faded Lincolnshire resort recently ranked as the one of the worst holiday destinations on the planet, and noted for its fish and chip shops, migrant hotels and Britain’s first-ever Butlins holiday camp.

The coastal town was voted amongst the least favourable holiday destinations in Britain and even the world, an unlikely honour it shares with North Korea capital Pyongyang.

But all that could change if those pushing for a new £4billion, 11-mile transport link across the Wash to well-heeled north Norfolk have their way.

The road and rail link would sit atop a huge tidal barrier that could generate hydroelectric power for 600,000 homes, and property owners in Skegness – despite it being ranked as the UK’s worst seaside town in May – now hope they’re sitting on a property goldmine.

After all, it’s already been nicknamed Skeg Vegas – at least there’s a sign saying so, as you drive into town – heralding the seemingly endless rows of amusement arcades along the seafront.

MailOnline went to Skegness to discover whether its citizens are ready for the gold rush and to find to our surprise that away from the bright lights and bingo, the resort really does have its own millionaires’ row already.

A local estate agent said they have seen an explosion in enquiries in recent months, following a post-Covid boom in house prices that saw average property values rise by more than a fifth in 2022.

And when £1million gets you a plush home and literal acres of back garden – or even an entire business attached – it’s little surprise those with money to invest are reportedly looking at getting into Skeggy.

Carl Smith, of Skegness estate agent HomeMove, told MailOnline: ‘We could easily see an increase in prices of 30 to 40 per cent – but it could be more than that – this place has huge potential and people and businesses are beginning to see it.’

Price data from online property portal Rightmove suggests the average house price in Skegness over the last year was £178,735 – with detached properties going for a typical £223,449.

Analysts have previously suggested this is because of a desire to get out of the cities and into the countryside after years of lockdown.

But those willing to really splash out can land themselves a lot of house, and then some.

Mill Lane, less than two miles outside the town centre, is home to the Birchwood Fishing and Camping compound.

The three-bed house – and the attached holiday business – is on sale for £1.4million. 

Your money gets you a huge eight-bed house, a double garage, two Airbnb-ready holiday apartments and 21 touring pitches to let out. Not bad if you can afford it.

Similarly, a three-bed house on the doorstep of the coastal North Shore golf course can be yours for £659,000. 

It comes with a double garage and four separate holiday apartments – offering additional income for those who opt to call it home.

As for what has brought about the potential rush on this most unlikely of property markets, all signs point to the proposed 11-mile stretch of road that would link Lincolnshire with Norfolk in dramatic (and expensive) fashion.

The Centre Port project would see £4billion sunk into The Wash, the estuary dividing the two counties on England’s east coast, to create a container port powered by tidal energy.

Bang in the middle of it would be the link road from Hunstanton in Norfolk with Gibraltar Point five miles south of Skegness.

The road would act as a flood defence system – and cut journey times from one end of the river mouth to the other from an hour and a half to just 20 minutes.

Those behind the plans compare it to La Rance, a tidal power station in Brittany, France, which also forms a link road – but that is just half a mile long, rather than 11.

Many of Skegness’ high value properties are being marketed by estate agents Beam, whose boss, Geoff Short, is treating claims Lincolnshire has the next Sandbanks on its hands with a pinch of salt.

That being said, he won’t refuse the idea of positive speculation.

‘I would love the Wash road to come to fruition – it would be hugely positive for Skegness but I’m sceptical as to whether it will ever get funded,’ he said.

‘It would be lovely to link Lincolnshire and Norfolk – but it’s a relatively slow market in Lincolnshire as a whole.

‘There’s not many buyers right now – and high-end properties are anything over £300,000, £350,000.

‘You can buy a massive house for £450,000, £550,000 with garages and the lot but they’re still very slow to sell.’

The £1.4million site, he added, was ‘really high end… there are very few properties like that that get anywhere near £1million. They can be on the market for two or three years.’

However, the local estate agent, who has called the area home all his life, says any interest in Skegness should be taken as a plus.

‘Post-Covid, end of 2020, 2021, we saw people moving here out of London and other cities and it is always good to have positive talk about the area,’ he said.

‘It’s an interesting town because it has an enormous tourist population. Premier Inn opened two or three years ago and Travelodge are building on the seafront with a Starbucks.

‘It’s a relatively slow seaside town but it gets a hard time. But the population explodes from 20,000 to 120,000 at peak time, it’s massive.

‘The prices have never really gone up in line with the counties further south like Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

‘But there’s a lot here – and there has been more attention since Richard Tice got elected as the MP, take that as you will.’

Local farmer and landowner Sue Bowser, 55, and her daughter Lorna, 23, are hoping to cash in on the Skegness property boom and have obtained planning permission for six luxury £1m homes on a five-acre plot of their coastal land at the town’s most exclusive address of Gibraltar Road.

They are currently negotiating with a developer to see the project to fruition but work will begin on the state-of-the art eco homes – sensibly built on ‘stilts’ – next year.

The Bowsers, who also run Lincolnshire Coastal Cottages from their farm, offering holiday lets on parts of a huge converted brick barn, know only too well the appeal of the area.

‘We get people from all over Britain coming here for the peace and quiet and the nearby nature reserve, all year round,’ said Sue.

‘The key to developing this area is moving away from seasonality, and there’s a huge project called Skegness Gateway to help drive that.’

The multi-million-pound project includes the building of 1,000 new homes, some 41,000 square metres of commercial space, tourism accommodation, a crematorium, a primary school, a local retail centre with shops, pubs and restaurants, and 4,000 square metres of storage space.

Work has also now begun on a new college at the £12million Skegness TEC campus.

And James Sutcliffe, 71, CEO of Centre Port, told MailOnline he had ‘no doubt’ that the project would go ahead – nor would there be any difficulty finding investors to stump up £2billion.

Mr Sutcliffe, whose family firm John Sutcliffe International Ltd, has been in shipping since 1862, said many critics said the Gdansk container port he built would never work, but it had been ‘a tremendous success, moving 3million containers a year now’.

‘For us, this is really a question of trying to decarbonize transport and shipping and to create a tidal-powered deep sea container terminal is a good answer.

‘We have had to incorporate a number of turbines in the structure to capture the incoming and outgoing tides. But it also has the benefit that we can shut sluice gates on the turbines if a major storm surge is coming into the wash, like it did in 2013, flooding Boston, and that’s only going to get worse with climate change.’

‘A lot of people seem to think reason we’re going to block off the Wash, which is the last thing we’re going to do. We know the area incredibly well and fully understand the environmental situation in the Wash.

‘What we’re trying to do is actually create a situation whereby we can save and improve the ecology of the wash by, you know, slowing down, and in some cases stopping, the impact of climate change.’

Aside from all the clean power that would be generated, our project would provide a container terminal much nearer the Midlands, and provide a much-needed expansion of freight capacity, as well as local jobs in the area.

‘Our immediate focus now is to obtain a Development Consent Order from the Secretary of State for Transport to start development of the project from the Lincolnshire side.

‘Phase one is the development of the road out to the offshore deep sea container terminal, to provide more container capacity in the UK to feed the Midlands area.

‘Also a roll-on roll-off link to Europe and feeder container ships to the Baltic/ Europe.

‘⁠Phase 2 is the parallel development of the tidal hydroelectric turbine systems beyond the terminal to provide renewable clean energy that is completely predictable unlike wind and solar.

‘This will operate the electric terminal and provide power locally for ships in the quay and logistics and manufacturing jobs for Skegness and the area 24/7.

‘⁠Phase 3 is the final link to Norfolk. This will provide a complete flood defence for the whole Wash and Fens area as the hydro sluice gates would normally enable tidal movement in the Wash, but shutting the gates will stop climate change storm surges and sea level rise that will otherwise devastate wild life and farm land in this low-lying in the next 50 years.’

Back at the seafront, Café owner Paul Steele, 66, is fed up of Skegness getting panned in the media, and points out that other resorts are much worse, risking the ire of Strictly fans by announcing: ‘Blackpool is a s***hole full of druggies and dog poo!’

That said, he admits that Skegness needs a boost and hopes that the Wash road will be just that. 

‘It think it would put us on the map for the right reasons,’ he said.

Seasonal fairground worker Susan Heathcote, 56, felt investment was sorely needed in the town, and that jobs were needed all year round, not just in the summer.

‘Parts of the town have gone to seed a bit in recent years,’ she said, ‘but there is still a community spirit here which you don’t find in some other places.’

Her friend Gaynor Bangs, 57, agreed but added: ‘I’m not sure if we need the kind of boost that sends the house prices flying upwards because it’s hard enough already for young people to get on the property ladder.’

Cook and mother-of-two Jane Ellse, 67, was positive about the Wash link, but added: ‘I honestly doubt if it will ever get built.’

Hairdresser Tarne Cooper, 20, said the one benefit that might come from the scheme would be ‘better shops’.

She added: ‘It sounds trivial, but decent shops bring people into the town and give it some character. If all you have is charity shops and vape stores, you lose something.

‘People my age struggle to find jobs that will give them a career locally, as opposed to seasonal employment and part-time work, which I’ve been doing on and off since I was about 12.’  

Skye Norman, 22 and her family including mum Marcia, and sisters Dee, 28 and Blossom, 16 have been running Tonys’ Fish and Chip shop for several years and gave a cautious welcome to the idea of the Wash link.

‘If it brings more visitors to the resort, that can’t be a bad thing, and young people in Skegness do need jobs that last all year round, not just summer ones, so it would be nice if it brought those kind of jobs.’

Skegness Mayor Adrian Findley, 55, harboured some scepticism about the new plan and pointed out that his town council had not been consulted on it in the six years he had been a councillor.

‘There are a few questions that arise to me,’ he told MailOnline. ‘Firstly, the environmental ones – the area is home to many seals and birds and the sea defences along this coast are in dire need of repair.

‘But there’s also the transport infrastructure. A lot of the roads around Skegness are single-lane, and anything which increases traffic along them without some kind of upgrade doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. If it’s done correctly with no ulterior motive, then it’s a plus, but it needs more stringent examination.’