Whitby Town Council passes motion on ‘potential serial breaching of market regulations’

On Tuesday, October 17, Whitby councillors, residents, and business owners held a meeting to discuss “potential serial breaching of market regulations” and reported damage to listed buildings.

Coun Asa Jones, who put forward a motion on the topic, said it was “passed unanimously” with a further request for councillors and North Yorkshire Council officers to conduct a site visit.

He added that he wanted answers from North Yorkshire Council and was “not investigating” local traders and businesses.

Several members of the public also attended the meeting which was held at the Pannett Art Gallery, including traders and business owners.

They raised concerns about not being consulted and about damage their properties had suffered.

The motion which was passed at the town development and improvement committee meeting noted “the concerns of local residents and business owners regarding potential breaches of North Yorkshire Council’s ‘Whitby market regulations’ and damage to Listed buildings surrounding the market area”.

The motion added: “The committee requests the attendance of both the market superintendent and regeneration services manager to answer questions around the recording and reporting of incidents and the potentially serial breaching of market regulations by traders.”

Coun Jones said: “Throughout the meeting, I got the sense that this is a bigger issue than just damage from market traders’ vehicles, as reports of possible damage from NYC vehicles and other delivery vehicles servicing nearby businesses were heard.”

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “What is clear is that we won’t have a full understanding of the issue until at least after this site visit takes place with NYC officers, if not later.

“However, the breaches of market regulations which I have had reported to me have not been limited to vehicle related issues.”

Coun Jones said he wanted to stress that the committee was “not investigating market traders or local businesses”.

He said: “Our investigation is into how North Yorkshire Council is handling the enforcement of market regulations”.

North Yorkshire Council has been contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service for a comment.