Levelling Up Fund: Future of £33m redevelopment at Scarborough and Seamer Railway Stations in doubt after North Yorkshire County Council misses out on funding bid

The authority’s executive approved a bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund in July last year, with £33m allocated to upgrade rail infrastructure in Scarborough borough as part of the deal.

However, the latest announcement of allocations from the £2.1bn fund does not include any Scarborough projects, as both the county and borough council had their bids rejected.

An £8.4m project at Scarborough Railway Station would have seen a ‘transport hub’ created to regenerate the surrounding area and improve connections between the station and town centre as part of a wider ‘gateway’ scheme led by the borough council.

Proposals included remodelling the road junction and public space as a ‘station square’ to make it easier for access into town, improving the overall look of the area and bus, cycles and electric vehicle infrastructure.

Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transportation, said: “While we are naturally disappointed that our strong bid to transform three North Yorkshire stations did not receive Levelling Up funding this time, we remain unfaltering in our commitment to modernising and improving the county’s transport infrastructure.”

A £25.2m project at Seamer Railway Station would have seen a new link with residential homes to the west, a pedestrian footbridge across the rail line and A64 with lift access and a new station car park.

Cllr Duncan added: “The proposals for Scarborough and Seamer are key to our plans to better connect North Yorkshire residents and support economic growth, so we are already exploring alternative opportunities to progress and deliver the schemes, including Levelling Up Fund round three.”

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove defended the decision to award London boroughs with more funds than Yorkshire and the Humber, who received £151.2m and £120.6m respectively.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “It’s simply untrue that the levelling up fund is concentrated disproportionately on London and the south-east.”

He added: “If you look per capita at the amount we’re spending, the biggest winners are those in the north-west – and of course, yes there is some spending in London and the south-east, but there are some areas of deprivation in London and the south-east. But it’s overwhelmingly the case that the areas that benefit the most are the north-west, the north-east and the east Midlands.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s wealthy Richmondshire constituency received £19m as part of the latest round of funding – the only district in North Yorkshire – but there was nothing allocated to the county’s most deprived borough, Scarborough, after the council’s bid for a further £20m missed out.

Council leader Cllr Steve Siddons said the rejected application is “bitterly disappointing”.

“Our borough has 85 per cent of the most deprived population in the whole of North Yorkshire,” he added.

However, the authority was previously granted £37.3m from the Towns Fund for renovation projects in Scarborough and Whitby, which includes reintroducing Scarborough Fayre, redevelopment of West Pier and Cinder Track investment.

Projects to redevelop Pavilion House and the former Comet corner store on Westwood as part of the authority’s ‘Station Gateway’ scheme now appear to be in doubt or may be scaled back.