Resort's sports stadium dream ready for major step forward

Enthusiasts have been struggling to keep football alive in the seaside town since Scarborough Football Club was wound up and the gates of the McCain Stadium in Seamer Road closed for good.

But with nowhere local to play the town's new fledgling football team, Scarborough Athletic FC, has been forced to conduct "home" games at Bridlington, 22 miles and more than 30 minutes away by road.

But tomorrow, Scarborough Council Cabinet members will be recommended to open the door to developers by starting talks with the private sector and drawing up a shortlist of potential partners to take the scheme forward.

The McCain ground was lost to football despite the decision by Scarborough Council leader Tom Fox to exercise the right to buy back the site from the liquidators in 2007.

By the time a fair market price of 1.3m was agreed and paid in December 2008, Seamer Road had suffered so much from theft and vandalism it would have cost 1m to make it fit for purpose again.

Rather than place a crippling financial burden on the football clubs that would use the stadium and risk them going bust as well the council decided to redevelop the land and look elsewhere for a site for a new stadium.

Ever since January 2009, it has been conducting behind-the-scenes investigations to ensure the huge scheme can move forward in a measured way.

At the back of official minds, has been the fear that the town is already supporting a number of ageing sports facilities, the condition of which is putting customers off going and can only get worse the longer they go on without investment.

But council leaders say after more than a year of working on the background to a stadium scheme they are now ready to move on to the next steps.

This would involve seeking a private sector partner to develop a mixed use complex with a broad enough appeal to make the scheme pay its way.

According to a new report, the problem with most of the council's existing sporting facilities is they cannot cater for the broad range of uses essential to building up a solid customer base and putting them on a sound financial footing.

Scarborough Borough Council's strategic director Hilary Jones said: "The council has an ageing portfolio of facilities that require investment - and the quality of the existing indoor provision appears to be having an adverse impact on attendance figures

"With the exception of Whitby Leisure Centre, remaining SBC sites are single facility sites which are not always cost effective to manage and

operate.

"Provision of indoor facilities needs to reflect the residents' requirements as a priority, but also cater for visitors, given the seasonal influx of visitors to the area and the economic benefits of such visitors.

"It was clear that without future investment and modernisation some of the facilities would continue to deteriorate."

Councillors are now being urged to choose a private sector partner to for a development which would be laid out as a community sports village, rather than a "football only" venue.

The council's head of tourism and culture Brian Bennett underlined that planning the new development would be a huge and complex undertaking.

"A key requirement of such a plan would be to ensure it is financially viable, and to ensure it reflects best practice in the provision of high quality sport and leisure facilities," he added.