Whitby Mine Experts Inspect Town's Closed Cliff Lift

Wednesday, 10 September 2025 06:00

By Matthew Pells

Mining firm Anglo American have prepared a report for the council on the state of Whitby's cliff lift.

The lift on Westcliff has been closed for three years as a result of corrosion to the structure.

Whitby Councillor Neil Swannick says he asked the mining firm if they could use their expertise to help with repairs to the lift.

"They have been to visit the cliff lift, the manager of their site who is a technical person, plus other technical experts to have a look at the cliff lift and take a view on it.

And they have , now written a high level report, which they have submitted to North Yorkshire Council. And I'm very hopeful that they, with their skills can actually come up with a solution for it rather than see the end of it.

When you look down the shaft and there's some historic documents of what the shaft looked like when it was built a hundred or so years ago, it looks remarkably like the shaft at Woodsmith, segmented cast iron sections bolted together, and it's exactly the same. So they must have the skills to be able to fix it, I would hope.

Anglo American experts visited the lift after Councillor Swannick raised the issue with them.

"I happened to be at a meeting of the Anglo American Liaison Committee which meets from time to time in different village halls around, around the site. And I said, would Anglo American consider using their huge resources, the skills of their workforce, their tools and equipment to consider doing a repair on the cliff lift rather than seeing it condemned to be being filled with concrete and abandoned for all time?

And I said, I think there's something in it for Anglo American. They will get an awful lot of positive response from people in Whitby if they were to do something like that.

And they have agreed.

Councillor Swannick says Anglo American's report has now been sent to the council for consideration.

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