Director: 'Looking after Alpamare staff in Scarborough is our priority'
The water park is closed until Spring 2024
The operators of Alpamare in Scarborough say looking after staff there is its number one priority.
It is hoped a meeting with North Yorkshire Council can be arranged to discuss options on the water park's future.
Eric Broadbent, North Yorkshire Councillor for Northstead, says it is devastating: "I thought this was going to terrible not just for tourists but mainly for our residents. They use it amazingly during the winter time.
"There are clubs there that go there four to five times a week. There's over a dozen of staff there. What's going to happen to them for six months?
"I really never thought this was going to happen. I can understand that they would have a cash shortage with the extra prices but if I could talk to them, there are ways I thought about solutions. Would they be willing to put solar panels on the roof? There are ways of trying to save money. There are different grants from the Government for this sort of thing.
"I hope they do reconsider and let's keep that venue open. I appreciate that they may say 'well it's a good opportunity for us to do the maintenence work on it and get things sorted out for the Spring', but there are other ways around that. These clubs need to keep going and we need it for our Scarborough."
Ed Stevenson, Director of Monkey Bizness, who provides management services to Alpamare, said: "We really welcome dialogue with the local authority. We're open to any options to try to make the park more sustainable and put it on a more sound, financial footing.
"To power a place like that, there are number of options and solar panels is one of the options that I guess will be considered, but we'll leave that in the hands of the experts who'll come and consult on that.
"This is an on-going and evolving situation, so I can't really comment in too much detail about staff. We're going to consult with everyone who works at Alpamare. The staff are fantastic and everyone who works there is greatly valued, so they're a number one priority to look after them.
"All I would say to everyone who visits us at the moment is thank you. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for bearing with us. We're not doing this to try and be inconvenient, we're doing this because there are some real problems with the business that we need to resolve. If you give us time, we have every intention of being back and supporting Scarborough."
North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of community development, Nic Harne, said: “We have not been formally notified of Alpamare closing on a temporary basis. While we do not operate the facility, we recognise it is an important attraction for Scarborough and the surrounding area."