Scarborough council causes major delay to cinema development

Plans for a five-screen cinema in Scarborough town centre have come to a sudden halt after the council refused to put the land up for sale.

A proposed cinema development on Scarborough’s North Street was submitted back in 2008, and planning permission was granted.

However, plans for a new cinema complex will be delayed even further after the council rejected the release of North Street Car Park.

The car park currently generates around £300k in income each year for the authority, and would not have been able to be sold to just one party.

The council’s decision to reject the release of the land was made during a behind-closed-doors meeting on Tuesday.

The meetings’ minutes, published on Thursday, reveal that the reason for the rejection was “to ensure that the Council’s property is used appropriately and to retain the site as a short stay car park facility

“Release of the site did not provide sufficient certainty that best value for the Council could be achieved.”

Nikolas Shaw, the owner of the Opera House Casino and man behind the North Street cinema bid, told The Scarborough News: “We will have to go away and assess our options.

“We are very disappointed.”