Whitby’s Maritime Hub plan ‘on track’ as £1.2m spent on feasibility studies and planning

Whitby’s £10m Maritime Hub is set to be ‘delivered on budget’ amid questions about expenditure on the project.

Plans for the controversial multi-million pound Maritime Hub on Whitby’s Endeavour Wharf are on track despite more than 10 per cent of the budget having been spent prior to construction commencing, according to North Yorkshire Council.

The flagship project – which is funded from the £17.1 million of Towns Fund money awarded to Whitby – was given the go-ahead in August despite more than 50 objections from locals who said the design does not fit the character of the area.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that as of September the authority had spent more than £1.2m on the scheme and that so far “one party is interested in occupying the hub”.

The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the £1.2 million spent to date covers a feasibility study to establish the requirements of the building, surveys and ground investigations to ensure the suitability of the site, and detailed designs and associated work to secure planning permission and technical and pre-construction designs.

Nic Harne, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for community development, said: “Prior to construction we want to be certain that the building meets the demand of the maritime industry.

“We are in talks with a number of potential tenants related to maritime and wharfage operations, as well as training organisations.

“We are working with our main contractor, Wilmot Dixon, and construction estimates currently forecast the project to be delivered on budget.”

Once completed, the hub will be home to workshop spaces, a lobster hatchery and seawater tanks, a store for the Harbour Master’s flood equipment, and a fishing industry training space.

At a planning meeting in August, one resident said: “This is a speculative property development that has a high financial risk of cost overruns that ratepayers will have to meet.”

But Claire Plant, the agent for the application, said the scheme was “supported by central government funding via the Whitby Town Deal and that’s based on a viable business case – the aim of the scheme is the rebirth of Whitby’s maritime industry.”