Work on parts of Scarborough's ambitious station gateway project are going ahead despite the town missing out on £20m of levelling up funding and plans to redevelop Scarborough's 'ugliest' building are still being worked on.
It was announced in January that the towns bid for the government's levelling up funds had failed.
Borough council head of regeneration services - Alex Richards - says that some elements of the scheme have separate funding and are still progressing.
Work on the £6.6m public realm project is expected to start in August. The plan includes:
- New plaza of 1,700 sqm with planting, seating and York stone paving outside Scarborough Station;
- New pedestrian crossings, new traffic signals, removal of traffic islands and hatchings, decluttering on Westborough / Valley Bridge Road junction;
- Allowance for change in levels including ramped access on Valley Bridge steps, with alteration of the existing wall;
- Tree planting and footpath resurfacing on Valley Bridge Road
- Highway lane narrowing, traffic calming, wider footpath, table crossing, and seating on Westborough Road
- Three rain gardens (one directly in front of the station, one along Westborough on the east side of Valley Bridge Road (starting in front of the new entrance to Pavilion House) and one to the rear of the station between the Transport Hub and Comet Building)
But despite some of the public space works going ahead there are still questions about how other elements of the project will be funded.
The borough council bought Pavilion House as part of it's plan to redevelop the station gateway area of the town and also planned to create create a high tech "Fab Lab" in the former Comet building.
FABLAB is planned to be a skills and innovation centre which will enable local people and firms to develop skills in robotics, 3D modelling and cyber security, it would also be a digital ‘factory’ which supports entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes by giving them access to advanced manufacturing technologies.
The council was also hoping to remodel Pavilion house, once described as 'Scarborough's ugliest building'. The borough council bought the building and had plans to replace the 1970's concrete cladding with glazing and create a public sector ‘hub’ in the building, providing both an NHS Diagnostic Hub and opportunities for local businesses.
The council was banking on levelling up cash to redevelop the building but missed out on the latest round of funding in January.
Alex Richards says alternative funding plans are being looked at for the scheme.
The council says the Fab Lab project can be delivered within existing Towns Deal funds, Alex says that could potentially be within the Comet building.
The council had applied for £12.4m of levelling up funding to go towards the redevelopment of Pavilion House as a public sector hub and £3.8m towards the redevelopment of the former Comet corner building.
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