Exclusive: Scarborough festival will be saved

Major financial backing from the region's tourism chiefs has been promised to allow essential redevelopment of the historic, yet dilapidated, ground.

The Yorkshire CCC board met yesterday and chief executive Stewart Regan confirmed: "It's very good news. There is nothing signed, sealed or delivered yet but the board have agreed in principle to a new 10-year staging agreement to host Yorkshire cricket at North Marine Road."

He expects the new deal to be signed well before Yorkshire's first match at the ground on May 4 and says it will run from 2011 to 2020 inclusive, guaranteeing 10 days of cricket each summer provided the domestic calendar remains unchanged.

Regan has warned, however, that certain ground improvements must be made.

"There are a number of factors to consider. We expect Scarborough CC to put in place a development plan for the ground which we require implementing before the end of 2012," he said. "Those plans would include attention to customer areas such as toilets, seating and food and drink provision as well as broadcasting and media improvements. If the plan is not implemented, it would negate the agreement at the end of 2012.

"We recognise the support that we have received from Scarborough Council and Welcome to Yorkshire, which has allowed us to progress these talks.

"I have said all along there is nothing quite like playing at Scarborough from a player's and a member's perspective. We would not want to jeopardise that – the aim is to improve the customer experience and provide our members with the best possible cricket experience on the east coast."

Yorkshire are understood to receive around 40,000 a year from Scarborough for the privilege of hosting two County Championship matches and two one-day games. Regan expects the short-term redevelopment of North Marine Road, which has hosted county matches since 1874, would "mean a six-figure investment, though the long-term development is going to cost substantially more."

He added: "It's going to be a big task for Scarborough Cricket Club and its supporters."

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity confirmed: "We have been in detailed talks with Yorkshire and are very confident that we will be able to reach an agreement.

"Scarborough is one of the great cricketing institutions, and attracts thousands of spectators from around the country each year. However, spectators have said to me that the facilities need to improve and I'm determined to help make that happen.

"Sport, whether it be cricket or horse racing, is playing a key part in our strategy to attract new visitors to the region each year and we have to raise our game to ensure that we offer the very best facilities – while also retaining the charm that is unique to North Marine Road."

It is highly likely that the Scarborough Festival, which last year attracted 28,000 visitors, will be rebranded as the 'Welcome To Yorkshire Scarborough Festival' – replicating the tourism body's partnership with York racecourse over the sponsorship of the Ebor Festival.

Scarborough Cricket Club chairman Bill Mustoe accepts work needs to be done to improve facilities and is already planning a pre-season sprucing up of the ground thanks to the NatWest CricketForce weekend on March 27 and 28.

Volunteers are being asked to help give the venue a lick of paint and a general clean up ahead of the new season.

"We have held discussions with the county and we are in talks with some of the tourism agencies who are suggesting some interesting programmes to bring people to the coast," he said. "There will be quite a lot of activities around the festival time that the council is driving. We are gearing it around tourism.

"Our immediate focus is very much on the NatWest CricketForce fund-raising weekend and we have had plenty of help and offers of assistance from local suppliers. We are confident that by the time spectators come here in May the facilities will have been upgraded."

This year, North Marine Road hosts County Championship games against Essex and Hampshire plus one-day matches against Northamptonshire and Middlesex.

Raymond Illingworth is in line to be elected as Yorkshire president for a two-year term at today's agm.