Scarborough Alpamare water park owner goes into administration

Benchmark Leisure Ltd, which runs Alpamare in Scarborough, has gone into administration

The owner of a water park visitor attraction in North Yorkshire has gone into administration.

Benchmark Leisure Ltd, which runs Alpamare in Scarborough, announced earlier this month that the site had been temporarily closed.

Staff were also warned about the possibility of job losses due to the rising cost of running the site.

In 2022, the firm still owed £7.8m of public money after receiving a loan of £9m from Scarborough Council in 2013.

Sir Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby, has called for "a full forensic investigation" into the company's finances.

Administrators for Benchmark said the situation was "complex" and several options, including the sale of the site in Scarborough's North Bay, were being considered, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, they stressed that it was still "early days" in the process.

The £14m park opened in 2016 and features indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides and a spa.

The £14m park opened in Scarborough's North Bay in 2016 and features indoor and outdoor pools as well as waterslides

Shirley Smith, president of the Scarborough Hospitality Association, said she feared the closure of the park would have an impact on other businesses in the area.

She described the attraction as "the best thing we had in Scarborough" and said people "could even go there in the winter when there was nothing else".

Sir Robert said North Yorkshire Council should make it a "priority" to try to get the venue reopened by Easter.

A spokesperson for the council said the authority would liaise with the administrators and that it was "considering all options available to us at this time with a view to minimising the impact on us and the Scarborough area".