First look at revised plan for new homes at Scarborough's former rugby club site

Joint Administrators on behalf of AH Scarborough Health Park Limited want to build 18 homes on Old Rugby Way, just off Scalby Road, which is now a derelict piece of land.

The company entered administration in January 2021 and its plan includes six two-bedroom homes, eight three-bedroom homes and four four-bedroom homes in a mix of terraced, semi-detached and detached properties next to North Yorkshire Council’s offices.

An administrator’s report submitted to Companies House on February 17 suggests that the land will be sold once planning permission is secured.

Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club moved from Newby’s The Old Showground after 82 years, which fell into disrepair, to new £4m purpose-built facilities at Silver Royd on the edge of Scalby in 2009.

The application for outline planning permission seeks to establish whether the development is suitable and likely to be approved before substantial costs are incurred and exact details confirmed.

Planning permission for 24 homes, a GP practice and the Webb Ellis Court care home, which opened in 2020, was approved in 2015, however, the outline permission for the properties has since expired.

The applicant said the plan seeks to regain permission for the residential development and that the NHS has confirmed a GP practice is “no longer required”.

It aims to provide “high-quality design with a range of properties to complement the existing character of the area,” they added.

Design, scale, layout and landscaping will be determined in a separate application at a later date.

John Burroughs, Scarborough Council’s Housing Strategy and Development Officer, noted a discrepancy with the application referring to permission for 23 homes, which does not align with a site plan that shows plots for 18 homes.

He said the application does not include any affordable housing and that planning measures in the area would require 30 per cent of the homes to be affordable, which would equate to five.

A spokesperson on behalf of Newby and Scalby Town Council did not raise any objections to the proposal.

The plan is out for consultation and can be viewed here.