New Scarborough ambulance station given go ahead
It's as the Borough Council lifted a restrictive covenant on land it sold more than 50 years ago
Plans for a new ambulance station set to be built at Scarborough Hospital can now go ahead as the town’s council has lifted a restrictive covenant on land it sold more than 50 years ago.
When North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) bought a plot of land from Scarborough Council more than 50 years ago, the Scarborough authority set a clause limiting the use of the land.
As part of the land sale conditions in 1971, Scarborough Council decreed that the land could only be used for “educational purposes”.
Located next to Graham School and Woodlands Academy, the land has been used as a playing field for various sports activities.
On Monday August 8, Cllr Liz Colling, Scarborough council’s cabinet member for inclusive growth, decided that the restrictive covenant should be lifted.
Minutes of the meeting state: “The portfolio holder approves the grant of the deed of variation as outlined in this report subject to planning permission and a third party land transaction.”
This will allow North Yorkshire County Council to sell the land on Woodlands Drive to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service to accommodate the expansion of Scarborough Hospital.
Building work to create a new £47m emergency care centre is currently ongoing. A new £500,000 helipad was opened at Scarborough Hospital in March, which will allow larger helicopters and night landings for the first time.
The approximately 0.48 hectares of land will be operated by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a new ambulance station.
Scarborough has an existing ambulance station on Queen Margaret’s Road.
A document prepared for the cabinet member said that “in order that the land can be used as the site for an ambulance station, a deed of variation needs to be granted to NYCC so that legally the land can be used for this purpose.”
The report adds: “The land is no longer owned by Scarborough Council having been sold to NYCC for playing fields in April 1971.
“The restrictive covenant was a condition of the sale so that this use could continue and NYCC could not profit or benefit from other uses.”
Scarborough Council’s director, Nicholas Edwards, said in the report “there is no detrimental impact to Scarborough Borough Council as it no longer owns the site.”
The decision to approve the variation was made by Cllr Colling on Monday August 8.