NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
12 November 2025
STATEMENT OF EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR OPEN TO BUSINESS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, REGENERATION, TOURISM
Economic Development
Delivery of year 4 of the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) / Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) Programme is now underway following the signing and legal sealing of the agreement in August. £5,137,410 of funding has been secured from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to deliver a programme of activity across North Yorkshire Council including a capital investment programme for local infrastructure, a Village Halls Grants Programme, an extension of the successful Multiply programme aimed at improving adult literacy and numeracy levels, a Business Sustainability Grant Program, and provide Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Infrastructure Support. The programme needs to be financially and practically complete by March 2026.
The Economic Development team are leading on a programme of activity to support North Yorkshire businesses with challenges they may face around inclusive employment, as part of the NYC allocation of Trailblazer funding. This will include a series of sector specific focus group sessions and an Inclusive Employment Conference in March 2026.
Regeneration
Town Investment Plans
Work is progressing well on the Town Investment Plan programme. Officers from Regeneration and Localities have reviewed the evidence base for 12 settlements across North Yorkshire. Stakeholder engagement, to help identify the themes each settlement will focus on, has started in many of the towns and public questionnaires for Harrogate and Ripon are live on-line.
Plan for Neighbourhoods - Scarborough
Following extensive engagement over the summer, the Neighbourhood Board are finalising the 10-year vision and 4-year investment plan for submission to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in November 2025. The next step will be to prioritise projects.
Scarborough and Whitby Town Deal projects
There has been significant progress on three Whitby Town Deal projects with restoration continuing on the Old Town Hall and good progress is being made on construction of the Maritime Hub and Spital Bridge junction. In Scarborough, design proposals have been completed for the Station Gateway public realm and these are being reviewed. The cinder track junctions project designs are being finalised, and a delivery plan is being established with work commencing in Winter 2026.
Sherburn in Elmet Low Street Enhancement
Scheme
The project is now complete and has been
well received by local people and businesses, with some keen to
expand the scheme to the other side of Low Street in the future.
The Tadcaster Bus Station scheme is also now complete.
Tourism
The team successfully delivered
the There’s More to North Yorkshire and Find Your Escape
campaigns.
· The “There’s More to North Yorkshire” campaign delivered impressive reach across multiple platforms, generating over 7.2 million impressions through Out of Home advertising at London’s King’s Cross and Paddington stations. It also achieved more than 1.5 million impressions via social media, over 147,000 views on YouTube, and half a million impressions through TV advertising—showcasing the region’s appeal to a broad and diverse audience.
· “Find Your Escape” initiative brought together 10 tourism partners, including Saltmoore in Sandsend, Wenningdale Escapes, Kiplin Hall, Fountains Abbey, and Beningborough, to highlight unique visitor experiences. The campaign reached 5.1 million impressions through Out of Home advertising in high-footfall locations like London, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, and added another 584,925 impressions via Google and YouTube ads. Engagement was further boosted by a Saltmoore competition with 2,350 entries and influencer activity reaching over 24,000 people to date.
·
A campaign encouraging off-peak visits is now live – called
“Come on in” and Christmas in North Yorkshire campaign
launched.
The team have continued to evolve
our event strategy and Visit North Yorkshire were the Proud Sponsor
of the British Gravel Championships at Dalby Forest.
Support enabled the event to be live-streamed, showcasing Dalby
Forest as a premier location for outdoor adventure and reinforcing
North Yorkshire’s reputation as a year-round destination for
activity enthusiasts. Over 1,000 athletes competed across the
weekend, with tens of thousands of spectators attending. Since the
event the live stream footage has been viewed more than 33,000
times on YouTube, continuing to inspire new visitors and promote
the region’s natural beauty and sporting appeal.
We’ve played a leading role in coordinating the York and North Yorkshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), allowing us to work on a regional level on strategic projects to enhance tourism and drive the delivery of our Destination Management Plan. The LVEP, now officially accredited by VisitEngland, marks a major milestone in our ambition to grow and support the visitor economy across York and North Yorkshire. The inaugural meeting of the LVEP Board, chaired by the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, brought together senior leaders from North Yorkshire Council, City of York Council, Visit North Yorkshire, Make It York, VisitEngland, and the Combined Authority. Key priorities included the development of a partnership agreement and the emerging LVEP Strategy, which builds on existing Destination Management Plans and sets a framework for coordinated delivery across the region. We’ve already begun collaborative work with partners to showcase York and North Yorkshire to international audiences through travel trade activity and joint projects to strengthen each destination’s asset library, supported by LVEP funding. Monthly meetings of senior tourism officers are now underway to maintain momentum, and future board meetings will rotate across the region to ensure strong local engagement and give tourism businesses direct access to decision-makers.
PLANNING
Delivery and Infrastructure
We have received the
Inspector’s report into the Maltkiln New Settlement
Development Plan Document (DPD) which concluded that, subject to
several modifications recommended by the Inspector, the DPD is
sound, legally compliant and capable of adoption. This is a
significant milestone. Full Council will consider adoption of
the DPD at the meeting today.
£60k of revenue funding has
been secured via Homes England to support development of
feasibility work at Cawber Lane in Skipton and to support
regeneration ambitions in Selby.
Following Member workshops on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spending opportunities in July, officers are working on the preparation of an Infrastructure Business Plan that will make recommendations on CIL spending to the Executive at its meeting in December.
Building Control
In line with previous updates, the Council’s Building Control service is continuing to focus on statutory duties due to current staff vacancy levels. Recent recruitment campaigns have been positive, which will put the service back into a better position in the coming months.
Planning Policy & Place
The first major stage of consultation on the new Local Plan took place from 19 May until 14 July on key issues that the plan will need to address, including a new sustainable growth strategy for North Yorkshire.
Work on evidence to support the Local Plan continues as well as targeted engagement with infrastructure providers, neighbouring authorities and other key stakeholders.
The Local Plan “Call for Sites” process remains open until the end of November 2025. Approximately 1800 sites have been submitted so far, which can be viewed on the Council’s dedicated call for sites webpage.
The next stage of consultation on the Local Plan is scheduled to take place in Quarter 4 2026 and will include draft planning policies and potential sites to deliver the growth strategy.
The government is soon to publish legislation and guidance about a new plan-making system. Once the detail is known, officers will assess whether any changes need to be made to the format of, or timescale for, the Local Plan.
The government are also introducing legislation and guidance on the preparation of a new tier of development plan in addition to Local Plans. They will be called Spatial Development Strategies and will be prepared by Combined Authorities. Officers have begun to work proactively with the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to look at opportunities for joint working on evidence base.
We continue to support the preparation of Neighbourhood Plans. The Clapham Neighbourhood Plan is due to be ‘made’ at Council today. Neighbourhood Plans for Knaresborough and Terrington are soon to be subject to independent examination. Up and coming consultations are expected on Tadcaster (submission stage) and Husthwaite (draft stage).
HARBOURS
Dredging
Dredging commenced in July as planned and is progressing well. The restricted licence allows a monthly tonnage of 5000t, and this is being achieved within each month.
Scarborough West Pier Pile Repairs
Works on the repairs to the West Pier Sheet Steel Piles has begun on site on 13 October as planned. The contractor is working 7 days a week to maximise tidal efficiency, and the first plates were installed on Sunday 19 October.
Works are anticipated to be on site until April 2026.
Whitby Cliff Lift
We have agreed to the request from the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee to delay a decision on the Whitby Cliff Lift until Anglo American can be invited back during the winter to review their findings on water ingress.
COUNCILLOR MARK CRANE