Demolished Scarborough beach chalets to be rebuilt

The replacement block of chalets in Scarborough's South Bay will match the surviving one

Beach chalets in Scarborough which were demolished after a landslide are to be replaced, councillors have confirmed.

The huts in the South Bay were left leaning at a 45-degree angle after a retaining wall collapsed in March 2018.

A further landslip in November 2018 saw the wall flatten some of them and the remaining huts were demolished the following year.

North Yorkshire councillors have unanimously approved rebuilding the block of 11 huts.

The plans were discussed at a meeting of the council's Scarborough and Whitby area planning committee.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Rich Maw, whose ward included the South Bay chalets, told the meeting the huts had been "very much missed".

Their rebuilding would be "welcomed by both residents and visitors to the town", he said.

Mr Maw also commended the design for the proposed new chalets for "reflecting the original huts" while adding improved facilities.

The new design was submitted by Scarborough Borough Council before it was abolished in April

The original block of Grade II-listed chalets was one of two 11-unit blocks forming a crescent beneath the Clock Café.

Since the demolition, permanent repairs were made in 2021 to the retaining structures, but the site currently remains an empty plinth.

The plan, submitted by Scarborough Council before it was abolished in April, proposed a "like-for-like replacement".

Mr Maw said the council should closely monitor the existing block of chalets so they could be preserved.

He pointed out that when cracks appeared back in 2016 there were concerns a landslip would happen, but nothing had been done to prevent it.

"There was anger in the town that the council had not done more to save these historic beach huts," he said.

He added that "there are now cracks in the footpaths above the existing row of chalets and I know they are currently monitored and I would hope we are keeping a close eye on them".

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