Hopes wind farms will bring jobs boom

Dalby Offshore Services has been picked as preferred bidder to put together proposals for an offshore business at Endeavour Wharf, Whitby, by Scarborough Borough Council and the Whitby Harbour Board.

Council bosses claimed while efforts to preserve the local fishing industry are continuing, there is now a vital need to look towards both the tourism sector and a boom in wind farms to bolster the local economy.

Whitby and other ports have been identified as key locations to benefit from the UK’s growing offshore wind sector, with thousands of turbines proposed in a series of wind farms miles off the region’s coastline over the coming years.

Coun Derek Bastiman, the council’s member for regeneration and strategic planning said the Whitby plans, still at the development stage, “could prove a massive boost for our economy, potentially bringing hundreds of new jobs and an entirely new industry sector to our borough”.

However, campaigners opposed to the proposed offshore wind farms have questioned whether historic Whitby is the right location.

Campaigner David Hinde, earlier said: “The wind industry must not be allowed to alter Whitby’s historic harbour and to spoil its leisure and tourism industry.”