‘Golden opportunity’ for resort to become nation’s best coastal centre

A SEASIDE town in Yorkshire has a “golden opportunity” to transform itself into the country’s bestperforming coastal town centre by 2025 if it can secure Government funding, council bosses have said.

Scarborough Borough Council plans to bring the high street into the 21st Century with ideas including creating a “smart” town with wifi and 4G coverage, making use of empty units for pop-up shops, becoming a true university town and staging year-round cultural events to bring people back into the town. However, in order to fund the ambitious plans the authority said it will bid for a share of a £675m pot, recently announced by the Government as part of its Future High Streets Fund.

Other plans include improving the night time economy, increasing residential living in the town centre by 25 per cent and establishing a small business start-up and expansion grants scheme.

Improving the environment in the town centre is also a top priority for the scheme, the council said. The authority’s cabinet yesterday approved the plans to start the bidding process for funding.

Coun David Jeffels (Con) chaired the task group which compiled the report and told the cabinet it was an exciting time.

He said: “There has been a great deal of work put into this strategy.

“I see this as a golden opportunity for Scarborough to plan its future for the next 30 to 40 years.”

The final strategy and action plan will be submitted to the full council in May.