Major Expansion Approved For Scarborough Rugby Club Overturning Refusal Recommendation

Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club's major expansion, including a new 3G pitch and padel courts, has been unanimously approved by councillors despite an initial recommendation for refusal over landscape concerns.

The major expansion of a North Yorkshire rugby club has been approved after councillors voted to overturn a recommendation for refusal.

Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club’s “centenary transformation”, including a new 3G rugby training pitch, spectator stand, additional padel court, rugby fives courts and clubhouse extensions, has been approved.

The decision came despite a recommendation that the plans should be refused over concerns that the padel court and rugby fives extension would harm the character of the open countryside in Scalby and erode an important landscaped buffer along the site’s southern boundary.

A club representative said:

“This proposal is about strengthening a long-established community sports facility that’s been providing sporting, health and social benefits to local people for decades.”

Speaking at a council meeting on Thursday, October 8, they told councillors:

“Importantly, there are no technical objections to this scheme.

“The question for members is simply whether a modest extension to an established sports facility and a third padel court warrants refusing development based on a landscape policy conflict.”

Sport England, which is responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across the country, had already given its support to the proposal.

The approved scheme includes the conversion of an existing grass training pitch into an artificial 3G/4G surface, a new covered spectator stand built into the embankment between the club’s first and second team pitches, a third padel court, two indoor rugby fives courts and extensions to the clubhouse.

Plans show the new spectator stand will measure approximately 29 metres long and 10 metres wide, while the rugby fives extension will add around 176 square metres of floorspace to the clubhouse.

The additional padel court will measure 20 metres by 10 metres and be enclosed by mesh and glass screening up to four metres high.

The scheme also includes a new first-floor hospitality terrace spanning around 34 metres along the eastern side of the clubhouse overlooking the main pitch, together with an extension to the club’s toilet facilities. In total, the development will create around 550 square metres of additional floorspace.

A report to councillors concluded that the proposed 3G pitch, spectator stand, terrace seating and WC extension were acceptable in principle.

However, officers argued the additional padel court and rugby fives extension would project further into the countryside, reducing a landscaped buffer that helps soften the visual impact of the club’s buildings and separates the site from land allocated for housing.

The report stated that while the scheme would provide health, wellbeing and community benefits, officers considered those benefits to be outweighed by harm to the landscape and the absence of evidence demonstrating a need for the facilities in that specific location.

During the debate, several councillors challenged that conclusion.

Cllr Derek Bastiman said:

“What we have here is an application to offer further sporting activities and opportunities for the varying ages.”

He added:

“The number of young and not-so-young who will benefit from the numerous opportunities runs into many hundreds per week.”

Cllr Rich Maw highlighted the absence of objections from consultees, telling the committee:

“Highways, no objection. Drainage, no objection. Ecology, no objection. Sport England, no objection. Tree officer supports it and environmental health, no objection in principle. Yet here we are with this recommendation.”

He added:

“This committee is effectively being asked to refuse a package of otherwise acceptable community sports improvements.”

Cllr Eric Broadbent described the rugby club as “a gem for Scarborough”, while Cllr Neil Swannick said he believed the landscape impact would be limited.

“I think the officer is absolutely right to bring our attention to the issue about intrusion into landscape,” he said.

“However, the quantum of that intrusion is actually very small.”

Planning officers maintained that landscape considerations remained important and said it was ultimately a matter for members to decide where the balance lay between countryside impacts and community benefits.

Councillors on the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee subsequently voted unanimously to approve the application.

The club, which already includes rugby pitches, squash courts, padel courts, a gym, café and clubhouse facilities, received more than 60 letters of support during the consultation process, with supporters arguing the development would expand sporting opportunities, encourage participation and help secure the long-term future of one of Scarborough’s largest community sports organisations.