Argos building call-ins to be heard next week
A date has been set for two call-ins to be heard over Scarborough Council’s plans to borrow £22million to turn a disused building in Scarborough town centre into 200 flats for students and NHS staff.
The authority’s Cabinet took the decision to proceed with the scheme, but that move has now been the subject of two separate call-ins by councillors.
Five Conservative councillors and five independents later signed call-ins, calling on the council to send the matter back to its Overview and Scrutiny Board to be reviewed.
Scarborough Council plans to replace the former Argos building in Newborough with a scheme drawn up in collaboration with Coventry University Scarborough and the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs services at Scarborough Hospital.
As part of the plans, the council is also looking to create a “market square” which could include demolishing some buildings at St Helen’s Square, which is adjacent to the Argos site.
However, concerns have now been raised about the viability of the scheme due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on local authority finances.
The Conservative call-in, led by the group’s leader and deputy leader, councillors Derek Bastiman and Heather Phillips, said the decision was taken “without due regard to the massive change in the economic outlook for Scarborough Council ”.
A second, separate callin was also lodged, led by the Cluster of Independent Members (CIM) leader Cllr Bill Chatt calling for the issue to once more be debated by Full Council.
It has now been decided that both call-ins will be heard together on Wednesday July 8 at 2pm.
The Overview and Scrutiny Board can make recommendations to the Cabinet for it to consider.
At the Cabinet meeting the councillors voted to progress with both the accommodation and market square schemes in principle, providing a number of viability assessments are met.
Six former Scarborough Council planning officers also called on the authority to think again about its plans for the building. In an email to all councillors the group cast doubt on the likelihood of the scheme securing planning permission and said they were “dismayed” at the proposals.