The changing face of Scarborough

Acronym alert! As the current government slices up the country into LEPs (that’s Local Enterprise Partnerships) and scrap the RDA’s (Regional Development Agencies – ours was Yorkshire Forward) it’s a good time for towns and cities in the region to look back at how they’ve spent the big pots of regeneration money that YF dished out, because that kind of cash is going to be thin on the ground for the next few years.

YF called it ‘Renaissance’, here in Scarborough we never quite settled on a name for it (’Town Team’, ‘Scarborough’s Future’ and ‘Renaissance’ were all interchangeable) but in a nutshell (or should that be seashell?) it was the people of the town getting a genuine say in how regeneration money should be spent.

And what did the people of Scarborough say?

Tourism Minister praises Scarborough

SCARBOROUGH'S status as an eminent seaside resort has received a major boost after the town earned high praise from the country's Tourism Minister.

John Penrose visited Scarborough as part of a whistle-stop tour of Britain and admitted to being "amazed" by its attractions.

Mr Penrose's trip, which included the Open Air Theatre as its centrepiece, was designed to give him an insight into a traditional seaside town ahead of a government report on increasing tourism in Britain.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, who helped arrange the visit, said it was a coup to attract someone of Mr Penrose's calibre to the town.

He said: "It was more of a fact finding mission and a chance for him to come and see what Scarborough had to offer.

"Being the MP for Weston-Super-Mare he comes from a seaside resort but was taken by how Scarborough was quite different from his home town.

"He was certainly impressed by Scarborough's standing as the first seaside resort, he liked the look of the town and thought the Open Air Theatre was amazing. We took him on to the stage area and he thought that was quite awe-inspiring.

"I don't know the last time a Tourism Minister came Scarborough and we were really pleased he could visit."

Future funding for Welcome to Yorkshire is under review.

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