More than 300 join piers protest

Campaigners staged the march amidst growing fears Scarborough Council was neglecting the town by allowing the structures to fall into a state of disrepair.

Scarborough Council closed the footbridge, which links the West Pier and the West Pier extension, at the beginning of September over fears for public safety after an investigation revealed it had deteriorated beyond repair.

The closure was the final straw for residents, who continue to wait for repairs to be completed on the cut-off East Pier extension after it was shut in 2001.

An online petition has gathered almost 1,500 signatures and yesterday’s protest saw hundreds of supporters gather on both piers.

Protest organiser Kayleigh Smith, whose Save Whitby’s Facebook group has almost 3,000 members, said: “I’m very pleased at how today has gone. This is just what we wanted and I would urge people to keep signing the petitions and to keep supporting the campaign.”

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post last week, the chairman of Whitby Harbour Board, Coun Mike Cockerill, said the march would “achieve nothing” as repair work on the West Pier was definitely going ahead. However, he said there were no plans to reopen the West Pier in the foreseeable future.