No confidence vote in the Yorkshire Coast BID to take place today
Scarborough Borough Councillors will discuss it later
Scarborough Borough Councillors will vote on a no confidence motion in the Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District today.
The controversial scheme has brought concerns and heavy criticism about its large geographical size, behaviour and spending.
John Senior was a former BID and board member and he is a businessman who trades on Scarborough seafront.
He said: "I say this with a heavy heart. I think the last four years have proven that it's not just the size, I think it's been a difficult one to administer. The fact that there are different groups involved; Whitby have very different wishes and wants to the people of Filey, Scarborough have very different wishes and wants to the people of Bridlington but the needs and wishes of all of us are very different and the aspirations.
"The whole thing has become unworkable and most importantly it doesn't have the support of its subscribers. People paying into this scheme don't believe in it. Honestly, I haven't met anybody who pays in, who isn't involved in the board itself, who is pro Yorkshire Coast BID. I think they agree with the ideal like I do, but they just think the present situation we have here is mortally flawed.
"Everytime I ask people to chip in for this or that, trying to raise money to run ad hoc events like additional fireworks, I get 'oh no, we do the BID now.' It's mirrored across all of our towns so it's actually stifled a lot of the ad hoc stuff we do. It's had a massive counter offensive against the good things that we do.
"We didn't 'what if?' it properly. It's clear to me that without the support of the people it isn't working. It's time that we all stood up and said 'actually, this isn't working. It's got to stop. We have to have a look at it.' I know it's a very difficult political decision to actually admit that we've got it wrong but we have. There's no doubt we've got it wrong because if we didn't, people would support it.
"We need to have the guts to stand up and say 'enough now. Let's review it, let's stop it in the meantime and try to learn from this going forward. I know that talking to people in Whitby who don't particularly like the scheme, it's the ideal that they support; they just don't support the geographical scale of it so if it was driven by the people of Whitby then they'd be behind it. We absolutely need to stop this now in my opinion.
"It's not Scarborough Borough Council's fault. It was driven by the people of Scarborough. We voted for it but I think the authority now owe a duty of care being that they are sort of the driving authority, along with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, to say 'enough. This is wrong.' In their hearts, I know speaking to councillors and officers, they all know it isn't working. It's a bit like we have a runaway train - how do we stop it without causing further casualties?"
Responding to the motion of no confidence, Clive Rowe-Evans, Chair of the Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District, said he was “disappointed” to see the motion of no confidence.
He added: “Over the last 3 years, the Yorkshire Coast BID has supported 83 different projects across the region and our investment to date of 1.4 million has attracted a further £848,000 match funding which has gone back into the community to boost the local economy and drive tourism. These projects have been for a variety of different initiatives and events designed to drive footfall and highlight the cultural offerings available in the different coastal towns.
“We were the only BID in the UK to have granted a 12-month extension to outstanding payments as we sympathised with those businesses that had experienced struggles during the pandemic.
“The Yorkshire Coast BID will continue to support all those levy payers who have backed the BID until at least July 2024 and we will continue to deliver a programme of initiatives that promote, protect and support the Yorkshire coast.”