Scarborough Council to launch plan to 'power up the borough'

Scarborough Council leader Cllr Steve Siddons (Lab) will unveil the plan during the final cabinet meeting of 2019.

Called the ‘Build a Better Borough’ strategy, the leader is promising a “complete overhaul” of the council’s approach to boosting services and the wellbeing of all residents and businesses in the borough’s towns.

Cllr Siddons said the aim of the scheme was to “power up the borough”.

He added: “Residents and councillors have already got a sense of a new direction for the borough when councillors debated and backed a project to support Scarborough town centre and two of our key employers: the hospital and our university.

“The strategy will bring a boost to the whole borough with projects planned from Whitby in the north to Filey in the south and supporting the villages around the borough.”

The strategy has five key aims at the heart of it.

These are:

Putting residents back at the centre of consultation and decision making

New partnerships to develop the local economy and jobs

New partnerships for better homes.

New support for staff in a “Pride in our People” project

The opportunity for all councillors to be involved on their residents’ behalf in all key decisions

Cllr Siddons said there would be a “huge public consultation” to give people a say in the future of the council and also to create a “social bond” with the residents.

He added: “We will give all councillors the power to fully represent their constituents with an improved system supporting them and letting them have information and input into key decisions.

“And because the council cannot achieve its goals alone, we will introduce new partners who share our vision and purpose.

“I am pleased that we may also have two new partners in our MPs.

“With Boris Johnson’s promise to end the North-South divide, instead of the last nine years of cuts I look forward to Government investment in Scarborough and its future economy.

“Our hospitals, our transport links, local jobs and future industries such as the Sirius mine could all benefit from this change of heart.”

Among the aims for the council will be a programme of delivering a significant number of homes each year that are available to rent and buy and that are, in Cllr Siddons’ words, “genuinely affordable”.