Major Redevelopment Proposed For Scarborough Town Centre Buildings And Car Parks

Prominent council-owned buildings and car parks in Scarborough could be transformed under new plans to find a commercial development partner.

Vacant and underused sites across Scarborough town centre are set to be transformed as local authority bosses seek a private sector development partner.

A proposal will be put to North Yorkshire Council's executive next week to launch a market engagement exercise, aiming to find innovative new uses for several key locations.

The priority sites earmarked for potential redevelopment include Pavilion House, Station Corner, the historic Town Hall buildings on King Street, the former Futurist Theatre site, and the Market Hall.

Secondary sites, whose inclusion depends on alternative provisions being made within the overall development, feature Woodend Gallery, Scarborough Art Gallery, and the Dean Road Depot.

Councillor Mark Crane explained the vision for the properties:

"We're talking a number of buildings. The one your listeners will be most familiar with, I'm sure, is the Town Hall, but there are a number of buildings that we own in Scarborough Town Centre, and some are not being used well at the moment, and indeed, one or two not being used at all.

We are not going forward with a plan that we want, you know, accountants or solicitors or something in those offices. We're asking for companies to come forward with innovative ideas as to how we can make greatest use of these buildings and bring them back into almost full use, if we possibly can.

Some of them clearly loan themselves to office space, some of them, potentially, to retail space, and some, perhaps, to leisure space as well.

So all those ideas will go into the melting pot. We hope people will come forward with something that is very much different, and that we can work with them and make use of."

Alongside the buildings, a significant number of town centre car parks have been conditionally included in the scheme. Officials have stipulated that any development on these sites must protect existing council income streams.

The car parks identified are

• Quay Street,
• Castle Road,
• Falconers Road,
• Friars Way and Terrace,
• North Street,
• St. Thomas Street,
• Victoria Road,
• Westwood,
• South Bay Underground,
• West Pier,
• William Street,
• Eastborough,
• King Street,
• The Spa,
• St. Nicholas Parade.

Councillor Mark Crane detailed why the parking sites are being considered alongside the buildings:

"The car parks are an important part of Scarborough, clearly for a number of reasons economically, they are good for us, etc. but we put them into the mix to see if there's a greater use for some of those spaces than we currently have. And if there's the opportunity of doing something a little bit different with the car parks to make greater use of the car parks.

But clearly, something that will be in the back of our mind is the fact that we do very well from the car parks in Scarborough, we have a lot of people come and pay money to park their cars there. And we have to bear in mind for all the taxpayers of North Yorkshire and particularly for Scarborough, that we need to make sure that where we can, we keep those income streams open, but if somebody comes forward with a great idea for somewhere, and it involves the use of one of the car parks, we will be open to listening to that."

The official report states that the primary objective is to deliver viable, long-term development that creates a more vibrant town centre by bringing vacant sites into active social, economic, or residential use. The council hopes to avoid the risk of dereliction, particularly at the vacated Town Hall site.

Councillor Mark Crane said the local authority is keeping its options open regarding future ownership:

"We are looking at what is the best idea for how to make use of those buildings. If it means that the council continues to own them and rents them out or something, then that is fine with us. Equally, if there's opportunities for selling, then they would make best use of those buildings, then we wouldn't be turning that down. So, we're very much open to what the community and what businesses want to tell us as to what could be the greatest use for those buildings.

It can be businesses from right across the country looking at this, coming forward with ideas, but equally, it could be people who have got an interest in Scarborough, or in North Yorkshire itself. So, it's wide open to anybody.

We're looking forward to ideas and for people to perhaps be a little bit innovative and to suggest something a bit different as to how we can make greatest use of these buildings."

Subject to approval by the executive on September 15, the market engagement will launch in mid-October. Responses will be assessed to inform the council's next steps before any formal procurement process begins.

Councillor Mark Crane outlined the expected timeline for the project:

"We've opened it out now. It will be over the next few months that we seek people's expressions of interest. Once those are in, we will look at those, come forward with the best suggestions and what we would want to do is fairly early in the new year. Start working with whoever it is that's come forward with the best suggestion for how we can make gracious use of these buildings.

I don't think we'll see space in the earth in the very near future, but we will hopefully have an idea of what we're going to do, what the suggestions are.

We will obviously then consult with people of Scarborough and then if and when all those stars align we can start work on doing whatever it is that the new developer is suggesting to us."

The proposal will be discussed by the council's Executive committee next week, the full report can be seen here

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