Work on Scarborough's major 'station gateway' redevelopment set to begin 'despite not securing all funding'

Members of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Constituency Committee have been told that work on the public realm of the 'station gateway’ redevelopment in Scarborough is set to begin on Wednesday August 23.

However, the future of the major scheme was put at risk earlier this year when the Government announced that Scarborough Council’s bid for £20m of funding from the second round of Levelling Up grants had been unsuccessful.

The plan proposed the use of Towns Fund, which awarded Scarborough and Whitby £37.3m, and Levelling Up grants for the redevelopment of Pavilion House as a public sector hub and the transformation of the former Comet corner building as FabLab+ and commercial offices.

In 2021 Scarborough Council purchased Pavilion House, often regarded as the town’s “ugliest building”, for £2.7m.

At the meeting on Friday March 24, councillors were told that a planning application has been submitted for the public realm phase of the ‘gateway’ redevelopment, with a £6.6m Towns Fund contribution allocated for the scheme.

A report presented to the committee said the failed bid for £20m “has no impact on the Towns Fund programme, and particularly the station gateway public realm project, which continues to make good progress”.

According to the council, The FabLab+ scheme, which was set to replace the existing Comet building on Westwood, “can also be delivered with existing budgets”.

However, the decision has impacted the authority’s ability to entirely deliver the Pavilion House refurbishment, redevelopment of the Comet building and delivery of the transport hub and railway station refurbishments.

If the funding had been approved, The FabLab offices would have “secured a pivotal role in digital and cyber security industries” as well as incorporating a £16m NHS diagnostic hub.

Earlier in March, the leader of the council, Cllr Steve Siddons, said: “We are going to do phase one which is to move the traffic onto the street at the back and that we are going to make that frontage a new paved area, which will be much nicer and smarter, a nice gateway into the town when you come on the train.”

Cllr Siddons told The Scarborough News that he “generally” accepted that the Government had deemed other places to be “in more need” and hoped there would be further funding opportunities in the future.

He added: “Obviously, this was always going to be a multi-phase, multi-million pound project, we’re talking about £60m to £70m and that funding has to come from a variety of sources.

“The main thing is, we’ve secured that site, we’ve secured the building around it, and we’ll be able to deliver on that as soon as we get the funding in place for it.

“Even as part of the new devolution deal, we may get some funding for it… I know that the new authority is keen to see that work done so I’ve no doubt that they will continue to push for funding.”