In May 2020 the Labour-led Scarborough Borough Council unveiled its Eastfield Regeneration plan. Known as Eastfield PACT the regeneration partnership headed by SBC and funded largely by the proceeds of the Middle Deepdale land sale allocated £1.2m to a three-year project to regenerate one of the most deprived areas in North Yorkshire. Over two and a half years ago in May 2020, Cllr. Liz Colling stated, “If approved by Cabinet on 12 May, we are ready to go and start to build Eastfield back better.” Except despite being “ready to go” in May 2020, very little has materialised since. Instead, we have seen a series of expensive consultations and reports but very little in the way of building back better.
Of the £1.2m allocated to regenerating Eastfield by the previous Conservative administration, as of October 2022 the Labour-led SBC has spent a total of £137,000 or to put it plainly in over 75% of the time allotted they have managed to deliver just 11% of the funding promised.
The initial plan set out five key areas:
1. £200,000 worth of improvements to Eastfield High Street and a new Halfway Park for use by local families for recreational use.
2. £150,000 to improve health and wellbeing with a focus on vulnerable members of the community and those who find themselves socially excluded.
3. £212,000 to promote employment, voluntary activity and business opportunities in Eastfield and the wider area. It is hoped match-funding of another £212,000 will boost the investment in this area of work to over £400,000.
4. £150,000 in grants to encourage local community groups and organisations to come up with innovative regeneration ideas.
5. £240,000 to support young people and families to help realise their potential with a focus on health and wellbeing through pre and post-school clubs, healthy eating, sport and performing arts.
But of these ambitious aims not one has seen any real results. Two FOI responses, one in March 2022 and one October 2022 point to a lack of an effective delivery on most of these key aims. At around two and a half years into the three-year program, there is little sign that the Labour Council has delivered for Eastfield. Looking at the categories set out by SBC when the project launched, little has been delivered.
1. The regeneration of Eastfield High Street and the halfway park. £16,000 has been spent on preliminary design work and a consultation phase. In February, it was said that final design was awaiting approval and further consultation. No start date set for work to commence.
2. Towards improving health and wellbeing PACT has spent £20,000 on “community consultation and engagement”. No response as to any further projects planned for remaining £130,000 that has not been spent.
3. Promoting employment has seen the greatest spend on it thus far. More For Eastfield has spent £328,000 as of October 2022. However, this includes £212,000 of match funding in addition to the original PACT funding. In terms of results just seven people have been helped out of long-term unemployment and a further fifteen out of short-term unemployment.
4. Under current SBC planning this category has been split into two sections we have seen £90,000 approved for More Than Books (Eastfield Library) and around £24,000 in grants to community groups. There is also £55,000 pending for the café premises on Westway.
5. Citing the October FOI response all £240,000 has been committed (not spent) on various projects such as Community Physical Activity Hub, Bike Library, Youth Pindar Leisure Offer and Walking Trails. However, in the initial March FOI response these projects were cited as an aspiration with £0 spent at that point. No start date mentioned for any of these projects.
This regeneration was supposed to be a significant milestone for Eastfield. Instead, there is a failure to deliver on many of the ambitious goals set by the Labour Council. This has led to serious concern by some.
Scarborough Borough Councillor, Cllr Heather Phillips raised her concerns: “Like many promises Labour made at the last election this is another that has largely failed to materialise. This is the latest in a long list of stalled, failed and watered-down projects from the Labour Council. We’ve seen this with pretty much every major project the Labour Council has undertaken such as the North Bay development, the former indoor pool, the former futurist site, the various Towns Fund projects. The only thing they have successfully delivered so far is a £1m funding shortfall to be passed on to the taxpayers of North Yorkshire in April. This regeneration was supposed to be a significant milestone for Eastfield, and it is a crying shame to see the opportunity squandered by inaction”.
Note: Freedom Of Information Act responses referenced from Scarborough Borough Council are FOIA8368 and FOIA202202994 and are available on the SBC website https://www.scarborough.gov.uk/opendata/foi-disclosure-log
