Council set to approve rebuild of historic Scarborough beach chalets demolished in landslide

The proposed new chalets, which will be located in Scarborough's South Bay area.

An application to rebuild a block of 11 beach chalets in Scarborough’s South Bay will be decided by the council’s area planning committee on Thursday, June 8.

The original block of 11 Grade II Listed ‘Spa chalets’ were demolished in 2019 following serious damage caused by two landslides in 2018 and was one of two 11-unit blocks forming a crescent beneath the Clock Café.

Since the demolition, permanent repairs have been made to the retaining structures in 2021, but the site remains an empty plinth.

The former chalets before they were demolished.

The application, submitted by Scarborough Council before it was abolished in April, is seeking planning permission for the “like-for-like replacement” of the block of 11 chalets sited beneath South Cliff Gardens.

According to planning documents, the new construction would match the original chalets in terms of form, scale and massing and the external materials of construction would also match the remaining units to the north.

Support for the plan has been received from members of the public as well as the Gardens Trust which said: “The new chalets should become a well-used and great asset for both the community and visitors to the registered South Cliff Gardens.”

One of the public supporters, Guy Smith, wrote to the council in support of the plan, stating: “This block of chalets has been desperately in need of rebuilding for a couple of years and is in much demand for hire by residents and visitors.

“It will help to complete the jigsaw of work recently undertaken to the South Cliff Gardens.”

The reason for the demolition of the original chalets was due to the failure of the retaining wall but this was reconstructed in 2020/21 and Scarborough Council engineers confirmed that in regard to future landslips “the proposal to erect new chalets on the site is acceptable”.

The original chalets were constructed in the early 20th century and a number of images showing the original engineer’s plans for the chalets from 1912 have been “an invaluable source of information in terms of creating a detailed design package that respects the original details,” according to the design statement.

The plan has been recommended for approval by the planning authority and will be decided by councillors on Thursday, June 8.