Council land could be sold as redevelopment grants cut

Efforts are under way to breathe new life into the town’s West Cliff area, which has not seen major investment for decades.

But Scarborough Borough Council’s senior officers have admitted falling public spending and the proposed demise of the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, will make it much harder to secure funding for improvements.

The head of tourism and culture, Brian Bennett, has confirmed one option would be for the authority to look at selling off some of its estate for a development including a new hotel and highways improvements.

But he stressed no decision has yet been made to dispose of any land.

A project board was launched three years ago and has been looking at a series of smaller scale projects.

These include improving signage to attract more visitors to the West Cliff area and repairing existing seafront shelters.

One of the project board’s members, Coun David Jeffels, said: “The West Cliff area is in need of major investment, which is something that has not happened for several decades.

“If we have the opportunity to enhance the area, this will help attract more tourists, more investment and ultimately more jobs.”

Scarborough Borough Council is having to make more than £1.5m in savings in the next financial year to counter a dramatic reduction in funding from Westminster.