Scarborough MP Sir Robert Goodwill 'optimistic' about future of Levelling Up projects after town misses out on £50m

The town was overlooked for £53m of funding when both Scarborough Council’s £20m bid and North Yorkshire County Council’s £33m bid were rejected from the Government’s £2.1bn Levelling Up Fund in January.

Sir Robert Goodwill told The Scarborough News: “Whilst we were not successful this time with the levelling up bid, there will be another round of bids in the summer and I am optimistic that we may make the cut this next time.

“These bids are always run on a competitive basis so that the best value for money and the best schemes can be chosen, and I know that a lot of work has been put in by Scarborough Borough Council to make our bid attractive and meet all the criteria needed.”

However, redevelopment projects to transform Scarborough and Seamer railway stations, Pavilion House, the former Comet building on Westwood and the surrounding concourse area may now be scaled back or not move ahead.

If the borough council’s bid was approved it would have enabled £3.8m for FabLab+, a digital skills training centre and business space, at the former Comet store, £12.4m to redevelop Pavilion House into a public sector services hub and £3.7m to regenerate historic and derelict areas of Scarborough Railway Station, bringing them back into use a station hotel.

The county council’s bid would have enabled a project to create an £8.4m ‘transport hub’ at Scarborough Railways Station, to regenerate the surrounding area and improve connections with the town centre, and a £25.2m infrastructure overhaul at Seamer Railway Station.

Despite Scarborough being the most deprived borough in North Yorkshire, accounting for 85 per cent of the most deprived population, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s wealthy Richmondshire constituency was the only district in the county to receive a grant in the latest round of funding – £19m for Catterick Garrison.

London boroughs were also awarded £30m more than Yorkshire and the Humber, which Sir Robert has defended.

“There was some negative press coverage about the way that this round of bids was allocated,” he said. “But per capita, the North of England did better than the South.

“Even if in some of the more wealthy areas like Richmond, there are pockets of deprivation in places like Catterick Garrison, and indeed some of the remote rural areas do have problems of their own because of this very remoteness.”

The authority was previously awarded £37.3m from the Towns Fund in March 2021 for renovation projects in Scarborough and Whitby, which includes reintroducing Scarborough Fayre, redevelopment of West Pier and Cinder Track investment.

Dehenna Davison MP, minister for Levelling Up, visited Scarborough exactly a week before the town’s latest bids were rejected to see projects enabled by the Towns Fund, including the construction skills village and West Pier.

Sir Robert said: “I suspect that when Dehenna visited the decisions had already been made, which is why it is good that she came to Scarborough and she could see not only the projects that had been approved but also have a look at the station gateway where so much can be achieved.”