Fire at Scarborough's Gallows Close Community Centre puts project on hold

The blaze, which took place after 2pm on Sunday September 20, started against the wall of the centre’s outbuilding and was extinguished by firefighters at close to 3pm the same day.

The affected building housed a wood workshop, and was used for the charity’s Youth Pathway Project – an initiative aimed at supporting young people who refuse to attend school, who face constant exclusion or are at high-risk of being drawn into anti-social behaviour or crime, to gain recognised construction-based qualifications.

According to Kimmie Avison, Centre Manager for Gallows Close, the building is now without electricity, with the roof, guttering and some workshop materials also significantly damaged.

As such, the centre is having to place its project on hold until further notice.

Ms Avison said: “It’s just disheartening for everybody.

"It’s disheartening for the teams, the community.

"We’ve put so much effort in. It’s a lot of time and resources wasted.”

Aside from the cost to repair the damage, the centre is also concerned about other knock-on financial impacts.

Ms Avison added: “Well it’s obviously going to put our insurance up for the year.

"And Ian, who’s self-employed and runs the workshop, he’s not going to get an income.

"Then it’s also the replacement of the materials that we’ve lost.”

Shortly after the fire, the centre also experienced deliberate damage to its brand-new outdoor seating area, fitted for the benefit of the public.

The incident was captured on the centre's CCTV cameras, and footage has been passed to police for further investigation.

The Community Centre is unsure of when the ‘vital’ Pathway Project will be able to open again.

Ms Avison said: “We don’t know how long it’s going to take the insurance company to pay out, because we’ve still got to get a lot of information back to them.

"We need to find out how much it’s all going to cost – it’s just not an easy job.”

In a statement to The Scarborough News, North Yorkshire Police have said: “Police were called by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service on the afternoon of 20 September after they attended a fire at the Gallows Close Centre in Scarborough.

"The fire is believed to have been started deliberately and caused damage to cables and guttering.

An investigation is ongoing."

If anyone has any information about those responsible and has not yet spoken to the police, please get in touch by calling 101 and passing information for incident number 12260184831.

If you wish to remain anonymous you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online via their website.

No arrests have been made at this stage.