Scarborough’s Town Mayor Wants to Regenerate Town and Work with Harbour Users

The recently elected town mayor of Scarborough has said he wants to bring ‘underutilised’ parts of the town back into use alongside a ‘cautious spending’ commitment.

When Reform UK won 11 out of 15 seats in the inaugural Scarborough Town Council (STC) election in May, Thomas Murray had no idea he would soon be chair and town mayor.

The 29-year-old, who works with children in care, openly admits that apart from one of their political group,

“none of us have experience in local government, so we’ve all really been delving into training and talking with the community and meeting as many people as we can”.

In May’s election, The Labour Party also won two seats – in Weaponness and Ramshill and Woodlands wards – alongside two Independents with one in Weaponness and Ramshill and the other in Castle Ward.

Coun Murray, who is also chair of the town council, noted that while he “doesn’t have to include” other parties, “I’d like the council to run as much as possible as one with them, having their viewpoint and having their input on things that span across the council.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) caught up with the mayor to discuss plans and the party’s priorities locally.

He said that “a main focus” was to set up a Harbours Committee to act as a “conduit between the harbour users and North Yorkshire Council”.

Asked how residents could best hold the Reform-led council to account and evaluate whether elected members had succeeded or failed, he confirmed there was no written manifesto.

The mayor said that a key campaign commitment had been not to raise precepts:

“One of the things that we are cautious about is how we spend money and if we’re spending money, it has to be meaningful and not wasted.”

“People voted for us to give them back a voice for change and actually to make a difference in Scarborough and if we don’t make a meaningful impact, they won’t lend us their vote again.”

Scarborough Town Council has a budget of £384,000 for its first year, which includes staff salaries, and with a commitment to not raise precepts and no formal manifesto, the nature of the “regeneration” proposed by the Reform-run authority is uncertain.

The town mayor admitted that “it’s going to be incredibly difficult” but added that “it’s about looking at what we can meaningfully do as a town council with the resources that we’ve got”.

Mr Murray also said that Scarborough Town Council is not looking to take on any additional responsibilities from North Yorkshire Council, such as maintaining public benches or organising the town’s Christmas lights.

STC currently leases rooms at the Town Hall which is owned by NYC and as such does not have responsibility for maintenance of the building.
Several Reform-run authorities in England have proposed and passed policies to stop flags marking LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Windrush Day and others from being flown outside town halls.

The town mayor said his viewpoint is the same as Reform in general and that he was opposed to Pride flags being flown at the Town Hall. He later added that there was a “time and a place” for flying Pride flags and that the council should have “British heritage flags flying above the Town Hall or in the gardens”.

On the topic of politics in the constituency as a whole, Coun Murray said he thought that Scarborough and Whitby’s Labour MP Alison Hume had “been quite good in voicing the needs of people in Scarborough” and highlighted her opposition to the Government’s controversial welfare reforms.

The town mayor asked that residents understand that “we are still setting up if it looks like we’re not doing much at the moment”.

He added:

“Our main goal is to bring life back into Scarborough and if we can regenerate the underutilised areas and make people feel like the council’s working for them, then hopefully we can bring that pride back into the community.”

The town council's next meeting is on Wednesday evening at 7pm at Scarborough Town Hall.