Unrest in Scarborough and Whitby over multi-million pound regeneration Town Deal projects

The Scarborough Seafront Community Action Group is calling for a public meeting over the spending of £20m of Town Deal Funding approved by the Government.

It was confirmed last month that Scarborough would get money from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for six projects that it had put forward which included retail, hospitality and events on the West Pier, with removal of car parking spaces when required.

The proposal has angered and worried businesses who say this will divert people away from current shops and is also not what Town Deal Funding should be used for.

The South Bay Traders Association held an extraordinary meeting recently that is said to have had the highest attendance in its history.

A spokesman for the Scarborough Seafront Community Action Group said: “The council has stirred up a hornets’ nest of resentment, anger and disbelief in what they are doing. This will be in direct competition with the rest of the town and with the existing seafront community. It will add dramatically to the existing traffic chaos, frustration and confrontation with visitors and residents having nowhere to park.

“The Government dictates Town Deal Funding can only be used for reviving struggling town centres. The West Pier is evidently not in the town centre nor is the seafront struggling.”

Meanwhile, Whitby Town Council has also called for a public meeting to be held with representatives of Scarborough Borough Council amid its own concerns over what its Town Deal allocation will be spent on.

Whitby has been awarded £17.1m for four projects, the biggest being £10m for a Maritime Hub to be built on Endeavour Wharf overlooking the town’s harbour and also money for redevelopment of the old town hall and market place in the historic Church Street area.

Councillors attended an extraordinary meeting this week to discuss the projects but said they had not seen the business cases and needed more details.