Whitby Town Council Could Run Beach Huts and Parks

Whitby Town Council wants to be part of a pilot project which could see it take over the running of some services in the town.

The council already operates public toilets but is interested in taking over the town's beach huts and parks.

As part of the local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire a pilot project could see a handful of town councils take on the running of some local services.

The Town council is preparing an application to the new North Yorkshire Council, making the case the town's parks, beach huts and beach management centre to be managed and operated locally.

The proposal received the backing of town councillors at a recent meeting however, some of them said they want the scheme to go further, including Councillor Asa Jones

In the draft version of the bid Whitby Town Council identifies two operational areas, currently provided by Scarborough Borough Council, where it would like to develop a business case for local provision.

The first is the provision of parks, grounds maintenance and floral displays. The council document says:

"This certainly includes the management of Pannett Park under a long-term lease at a peppercorn from the Pannett Park charity, for which the town council is the sole trustee.

There are known areas of floral maintenance, some of which may be under an existing arrangement with the county council as Highways Authority, but it is not assumed that the maintenance of highway verges would in itself be included.

The town council assumes that these activities are net expenditure items to the borough council with little or no direct income.

The relevant assets are the plant and equipment, including depot space associated with these services."

The second area of interest to the town council is is the beach management services, including the management and letting of seasonal beach huts, provision of beach management centre and letting of retail concessions on esplanade. The council document states:

"These services are focussed on the West Cliff and Esplanade areas of Whitby. It is assumed that the cost of these services is subsidised by the charges levied for beach hut hire and commercial rents in the beach management centre. It is unknown whether these services currently generate a net income.

The relevant assets are the buildings, plant and equipment, including depot space for over-wintering, associated with these services as well as the buildings and operational curtilage on the esplanade"

One of the town's County Councillors - Neil Swannick - feels the scheme could go further than just beach huts.

Whitby Town Council says it carried out an online survey of public opinion in August and September 2022 to identify which local services residents of the town would like to see delivered locally. The Top 10 results were:

in explaining why the town council wants to take over the operation of some local services the document says:

"The perceived benefits to Whitby and to residents is that services which are fundamental to the local tourism economy are retained and enhanced if possible, using income derived from tourism with ultra-local democratic oversight."

At the stage the Town Council is required to submit an "Expression of Interest" in taking over some services by March. The requests from town and parish council's across North Yorkshire will then be looked at by the new North Yorkshire Council which is expected to progress a handful of projects in the first instance as a "pilot project". It is unlikely that any services would be transferred to the town council before April 2024.