Residents in a coastal town have expressed outrage and said they ‘lost faith in democracy’ over North Yorkshire Council’s decision to purchase a new office building outside the town centre for an undisclosed sum.
Residents and councillors in Scarborough have said they are “appalled” by North Yorkshire Council’s decision to push ahead with the purchase of Resolution House at the A64 as a new office and to move staff out of the town centre.
Speaking at a public meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff (Independent) said information provided about the proposal had been “dangerously poor”, while Cllr Tom Seston (Reform) highlighted how elected councillors had been informed of the plan via social media and a press release.
Addressing the United Scarborough Residents’ Action Group at the YMCA Theatre on Tuesday, March 24, Cllr Donohue-Moncrieff added:
“I am so disgusted at that report, I’ve written to the external auditor. I find the behaviour of [senior] officers completely and utterly unacceptable.”
Last week, NYC bosses pushed through an ‘asset rationalisation’ plan that includes the purchase of Resolution House as part of a scheme that was presented as a way to avoid up to £19m of costs to upgrade “appalling working conditions” at the ageing coastal town hall site, and could see Malton’s Ryedale House office sold to make way for housing.
Anglo American, which previously had staff based at Resolution House, began marketing the site for disposal earlier this year, with a guide price of £4.5 million, but officers said the agreed price would be “substantially lower”.
Speaking at the public meeting on Tuesday evening, locals said it was “shameful” that they had not been consulted, while a “dutiful” Scarborough resident said:
“This has shaken my faith in democracy.”
She said:
“In good faith, we voted for these people, and it’s completely eroded my trust in the way that things are managed in this authority.”
The in-principle approval of the plan is subject to finalisation of a contract between Anglo American and NYC.
However, a special overview and scrutiny committee meeting of North Yorkshire Council will be held on Thursday as councillors make a “last ditch” attempt to block the proposal.
Cllr Rich Maw (Independent) told the meeting:
“It’s our job to impress upon the members of the scrutiny committee on Thursday that the executive have not been given all the facts and figures for this.
“We’ve seen this time and again in Scarborough, where councillors, through officers’ decisions, ended up buying things or knocking things down that haven’t worked.
“We can talk about Alpamare, we can talk about the Futurist, we can talk about hotels. All these things exist because these sorts of decisions weren’t scrutinised properly through pre-scrutiny, and unfortunately, it’s going to have to be at this last-ditch attempt.”
The deputy leader of North Yorkshire Council, Cllr Gareth Dadd (Conservative) has said that the business case for the proposal stacks up and that details will be revealed once a deal for the purchase of the office is completed.
Cllr Dadd said at last week’s executive committee meeting that a decision had to be made quickly to secure a favourable deal.
He said:
“We can’t allow our staff to work in the conditions that we’ve witnessed over the past six months.
“The business case is robust and stacks up. I wish I could disclose everything in the business case, but that will become public when the deal is finalised.
“The purchase price is substantially lower than the £4.5 million price that’s been mentioned, and we have a duty to protect the taxpayer, and the £15 million to £19 million of repairs needed is not in the public interest.”
At the public residents’ meeting in Scarborough, locals and councillors also questioned the accuracy of the estimated cost of repairs needed at the town hall.
Members of the public have been invited to attend the call-in meeting of the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee at County Hall in Northallerton on Thursday, March 26, at 10am.
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