A major station gateway redevelopment has been deferred in Scarborough over concerns about public drop-off facilities.
An extensive redevelopment of Scarborough Station’s public realm and drop-off areas – more than three years in the making – has been deferred by councillors who said they were “seriously concerned” by aspects of the scheme.
The works, proposed by North Yorkshire Council, would have seen the Grade II-listed 19th-century station’s forecourt upgraded with new public seating, a taxi rank, drop-off areas, a pedestrian plaza and changes to accessible parking.
However, councillors on the Scarborough and Whitby Area Planning Committee said the scheme represented a “substantial departure from the wider station gateway proposals previously presented” and that the revised scheme delivered “fewer benefits than originally envisaged”.
At a meeting last week, committee members questioned whether the scheme would provide a “meaningful improvement to the existing station forecourt” and suggested that it remained “largely vehicle-dominated despite the environmental enhancements proposed”.
A major focus of the development has been to improve pedestrian accessibility and sustainable transport options around the station and to encourage investment in and around the station area.
Speaking at the meeting, a local resident raised concerns about “pedestrian access from existing bus stops, particularly for passengers travelling from the south of Scarborough” and said that the bus stops should be closer to the station.
He also queried how “the proposed pedestrian priority area provides a significant improvement for pedestrians given that taxis and blue badge vehicles would continue to have access to the forecourt area”.
Helen Jackson, head of regeneration at North Yorkshire Council, said the scheme would “deliver significant improvements to the station environment, enhance the experience of residents and visitors, and contribute to the wider regeneration of Scarborough”.
She added that the scheme would create a “more attractive, accessible and coherent public space whilst retaining the key transport functions required by station users” and that the proposals complemented “recent and planned investment in the railway station and formed part of a wider ambition to improve the town centre and encourage inward investment”.
Ms Jackson noted that the overall number of disabled parking spaces would remain unchanged and that taxi provision would be retained at the front of the station.
However, councillors expressed “significant concern regarding the absence of any dedicated public drop-off provision at the front of the railway station and considered that this could create difficulties for passengers with luggage, pushchairs, mobility impairments and other accessibility needs”.
Committee members also questioned where passengers, private hire vehicles and members of the public would be expected to drop off and collect rail users under the proposed arrangements.
Additionally, concerns were raised that the proposals could lead to “unsafe pedestrian movements across Westborough and increase the potential for conflict between pedestrians, buses and other vehicles”.
The planning committee voted unanimously to defer the plans and urged North Yorkshire Council to address the lack of drop-off facilities for the general public, as well as concerns about the safe interaction of pedestrians and vehicles on the station forecourt.
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