Scarborough chalet replacement could take a year

The chalets at the resort’s North Bay are leaning at a 45-degree angle after a retaining wall collapsed behind them in March.

At first, it was feared that a major defect in the land may have been the cause, but, following investigations, the failure of the wall was found to be to blame.

Access to the popular Clock Café, situated above the chalets, has also been restricted since the incident.

On Wednesday, Cllr Mike Cockerill, the council’s cabinet member for major projects, will be asked to appoint a project manager to oversee the demolition and rebuild of the chalets.

However, the report prepared for the councillor notes that due to complexities of demolishing a listed structure, the chalets may not be replaced until January 2020.

The report notes: “From an inspection it could be ascertained that a section of retaining wall about 15 metres long had failed at the bottom of the wall and the top of the wall was left resting on the beach chalets in front, with the load from the wall causing them to deflect. The ground behind the wall to a distance of about 4m had sunk by about 0.5m.

“Inspection of the areas above the sunken area including the Clock Café above revealed that there were no obvious signs of recent movement related to the failure of the retaining wall.

“Over a period of time during April the retaining wall was pushed further forward causing the beach huts to deflect further and the soil level behind the wall to sink further to a depth of about 1m.”

The report added that a wetter-than-average winter caused the failure of the wall.

In order to demolish the chalets, the council needs to get listed building consent via a planning application.

The report added: “Advice has been received that permission to demolish the chalets is unlikely to be received unless the application includes proposals for their reinstatement.”

This means, the council notes, that it would not be possible to get the relevant designs and planning permissions in time to rebuild the chalets before the 2019 summer season.

Cllr Cockerill will be asked to approve a £78K payment to Haskoning DHV to design, project manage and supervise the works to the chalets and retaining wall.