Scarborough's town mayor commended the newly formed council's progress at a brief, sparsely attended annual meeting of electors.
The town mayor of Scarborough has praised the work of the town council at a sparsely attended annual meeting.
The annual town meeting of the electors of Scarborough was attended by six councillors, four residents, three security staff, and two clerks.
The meeting was held at 6.30pm on Friday (May 29) after being rescheduled from the day before.
Cllr Thomas Murray, the town mayor, thanked residents for attending:
“Throughout this year we’ve meticulously set up the council from scratch, set up the policies and procedures for the first year, which has taken quite a bit of time.
“We’ve built this council with responsible and sustainable finances in mind, the value for money and respect for taxpayers.”
Scarborough Town Council was created last April, and an inaugural election was held in May 2025, which saw 11 Reform councillors, two Independents, and two Labour councillors elected to the authority.
At Friday’s meeting, which lasted about 15 minutes, residents from the Whatcroft Community Association thanked councillors for their opposition to plans to construct shops, pharmacies, and restaurants at a new retail centre at Filey Road in Scarborough.
Chris Baxter, of the WCA, said:
“We would like to thank the council for objecting to the new out-of-town development.
“We would also like to ask you if there’s anything else that can be done in terms of the council lodging further objections, and we wonder if there’s anything else that can be done to support the community.”
Cllr Chris Clarke, the only non-Reform councillor in attendance at the meeting, described working on the newly created authority as “quite an uplifting experience” and said that “the town council has generally worked well”.
He added that despite disagreements on national politics and policies, “common sense comes to the fore”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) before the meeting, Cllr Murray said a highlight of the past year had been setting up a community grants scheme for local organisations and charities.
The town mayor said that as a newly created authority
“we don’t have any responsibilities as people say, we don’t have public toilets, we don’t have allotments, we didn’t have Christmas lights last year, or anything like that, so where can we put this money?
“Well, we can put it into the community, so we thought, what can we responsibly budget? So that’s £50,000 for [the community grants scheme].
“We’re in the second year now, and we’re looking to do Christmas lights, we’re looking to do allotments, we’re exploring a community grant scheme, and all of that takes money.”
Asked if the Reform-led authority wanted to take on more responsibilities, Cllr Murray said:
“At the moment, we’re doing things slowly, so we can do it right.”
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