Residents are ‘rightly sceptical’ of council proposals to redevelop leisure-related sites in Scarborough’s North Bay, a councillor has said.
Coun Rich Maw, who represents the Weaponness and Ramshill area, has said that residents are
“rightly sceptical of any new plan which relates to the town’s North Bay attractions given the council’s record on delivery”.
It comes as North Yorkshire Council’s executive is set to approve a ‘soft marketing testing exercise’ at its meeting on Tuesday, February 4 which is hoped could lead to “a wave of new investment” in the town.
Sites including the former Atlantis Waterpark and Marvel’s theme park, the former Indoor Pool, the Northstead Gardens, and Alpamare waterpark, could be redeveloped to boost the local economy and deliver “significant financial returns” to the authority.
Several of the sites were previously included in a Scarborough Borough Council (SBC) development agreement dating back to 2002.
However, that agreement has since lapsed and NYC has “unencumbered freehold ownership of the sites”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Coun Maw called on council bosses to give
“due consideration to the current status of these areas on the local plan”.
The Independent councillor raised concerns that the current proposal for the vacant sites
“is to support development that is complementary to the adjacent existing uses – to my mind, this would be a fundamental condition and not merely a proposal”.
NYC’s plan comes almost two years after the former SBC approved its North Bay Masterplan as a “once in a generation” opportunity to regenerate the town’s North Bay.
The masterplan, which followed a public consultation, aimed to create “more than £100m of investment” through more visitors, private investment, and attractions.
Coun Liz Colling, who represents the Falsgrave and Stepney area, said:
“This is set to be the first step in identifying potential developers for these sites which will hopefully lead to investment to benefit our local communities in the town.
“While the visitor economy is a huge part of Scarborough’s economy, we need to make sure that any development in the town is beneficial for residents too.
The Labour councillor said she hoped the plan would
“help to ensure that the younger generations of our residents can remain in the town where they grew up and embark on a career here.”
The Alpamare waterpark, which is currently operated on a 12-month lease by Flamingo Land, was taken back into council ownership after its developer Benchmark Ltd went into administration in late 2023.
In addition to Alpamare and the vacant sites, the council owns the freehold interest of other “notable and pivotal sites” in the North Bay area, including the Miniature Railway, Open Air Theatre, and Peasholm Park.
Coun Maw added:
“There must be an awareness that the Scarborough public will not countenance any proposal on a site such as the former Futurist site which falls any way short of the conditions made under the former SBC.
“To allow any developer that site merely because it solves a problem in North Bay and brings in a short-term capital receipt to NYC would be unacceptable in my view.”
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