Council Recommends Permenant Whitby Cliff Lift Closure

North Yorkshire Council is set to push ahead with the decommissioning of Whitby’s Cliff Lift as local councillors are set to debate the issue at a meeting on Friday.

​The high cost of repairing, maintaining, and operating Whitby’s Cliff Lift, which has been closed since 2022, and the “uncertainty” regarding the effectiveness of repair works, mean North Yorkshire Council will aim to decommission the site permanently.

​The total cost of reinstating the lift to working order and addressing the water ingress would be £5.5m, according to the authority, while the installation of improved ventilation and power supply cables could cost a further £100,000.

​A report prepared for a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee on Friday, September 19, states that whilst bringing the lift back into service would be

“desirable to the community of Whitby, [it] would add to the council’s financial burden and reduce funding that would be available for other higher priorities”.

​Officers added:

“The lift has been closed for three years without much detriment to Whitby or impact upon the chalet lets.”

​The “iconic structure” on the West Cliff closed in 2022 after the discovery of corrosion and a steady increase in water ingress, and for the last three years, the council has run a free subsidised bus service over the summer to replace the lift.

​If the cliff lift was repaired, a season lift operator would have to be employed for five months between May and September, at a cost of £13,000 a year.

​Several options have been proposed, including decommissioning the lift and retaining the top building, which would cost around £200,000.

​However, officers have recommended that the council decommission the lift and remove the top building at a cost of £232,000. This option involves the removal of the top section of lift equipment to ensure the system is safe. A reinforced concrete capping slab would be required to close off the top of the main shaft.

​North Yorkshire Council said it was “aware that prior to its closure the lift was a useful and a much-loved heritage asset by the people of Whitby and its visitors,” which was “further demonstrated” by the online petition to save the Cliff Lift which has gathered 5,500 signatures.

​A consultation on the future of the replacement bus service will also be discussed at the meeting but no consultation on the future of the lift itself has been held, despite requests from residents and politicians.

​The report notes in light of the petition that “any public consultation would overwhelmingly support the reopening of the lift, and any future decision by the executive will be taken within this context”.

​This summer, the mining company Anglo American conducted an assistive assessment of the state of the cliff lift and noted “no water ingress”, but officers highlighted this was done “in August, during the hottest summer on record” and added that “the survey noting severe water ingress was conducted in January 2020 during the middle of winter in which there was 45mm of rain across nine days”.

​The fate of the free replacement bus service is also currently unclear, as there is no revenue budget for its operation and the reserves from which the costs were funded have been “fully utilised”.

​The cost of operating the subsidised bus service in 2024 was £52,440, or £345 per day, with average daily passenger numbers varying monthly between 11 and 33.

​A council consultation on its future received more than 700 responses and “revealed strong public support for maintaining or restoring access to the beach via either the cliff lift or a reliable replacement service”.

​The executive committee is due to make a decision by October 21.

​Members of the public are invited to attend the area committee meeting at Scarborough Town Hall on Friday, September 19, starting at 10am.