Whitby Harbour: Work on maritime hub ‘should halt immediately’, say campaigners

Diggers are already on Endeavour Wharf taking up tarmac to build the £10m hub, funded by the government’s Town Deals programme, to house offices, training facilities and workshops.

However Fight4Whitby says the hub – which will take up around 100 car parking spaces - is contrary to the North East Marine Plan. They say the “speculative” building will hamper future efforts to repair the extensions to the harbour’s piers.

The extensions, built between 1908 and 1914, require significant repairs due to the sea scouring and carving out voids in the mudstone beneath the foundations.

Last month resident Sue Boyce won her 10-year legal battle to prove that money raised from reclaimed land now used as car parks in Whitby – like Endeavour Wharf - should have been ringfenced for the use of the harbour.

The long drawn out case cost Mrs Boyce and supporters Fight4Whitby more than £100,000, but should see North Yorkshire Council having to pay at least £10m to the harbour for its maintenance. Fellow campaigner John Freeman said the building contravened legal rules surrounding the harbour and its use. A letter from Mr Freeman has asked NYC for an “urgent review” of the decision to start work on the hub, following the High Court judgement issued on March 14.

The town’s former Mayor said what concerned him most was the hub taking up space which would be needed once work begins on repairing the harbour’s extensions.

He said: “The only way to repair the extensions would be by barge off Endeavour Wharf. You need all the building materials, all the concrete mixers, everything you would need would be on Endeavour Wharf. It is basically an office block stuck in the middle of the harbour and personally I’m not aware of any actual tenants for it at the moment.”

In 2008 consultants Royal Haskoning found a giant hole at the landward end of the east extension.

This was fixed in an emergency repair costing nearly £3m, however no work has been done to the sheet piling protecting the extensions over a third of which were "disintegrated, holed or excessively corroded".

Worryingly there were also 95 further voids which had started to develop under the foundations. Because of the huge cost, the former Scarborough Council decided the crumbling east and west piers should take priority.

Royal Haskoning agreed work to the extensions could be deferred until 2032 "subject to two strict conditions" - a dive survey every five years and core sampling to keep tabs on erosion. But it appears both conditions have been ignored.

NYC’s corporate director of environment, Karl Battersby, said they are disappointed by the court ruling and are considering their next steps.

He said: "The decision does not impact on the development of harbour-related uses such as the construction of the maritime hub, or on our goal to invest in and promote Whitby’s exciting future.”