Agenda item

Speakers:

       i.         Steve Crawford, Surfers Against Sewage

     ii.         Rosalind Aldcroft, Bay View Coffee House

    iii.         Rudi Barman, Terror Towers and Scarborough Speed Boat Trips

    iv.         Andrew Clay, Scarborough Tourism Advisory Board and SEA LIFE Scarborough

The committee received presentations from several local stakeholders in respect of the local impacts of bathing water quality.

Steve Crawford, Surfers Against Sewage

Steve Crawford addressed the committee as a lifelong Scarborough resident and former surf business owner, explaining that he had closed his business due to persistent poor water quality and associated health concerns. He highlighted the scale and longevity of pollution affecting both North and South Bays, citing high numbers of CSO discharges, inadequate historic investment outcomes and conflicting or unclear public safety messaging on beaches. He stated that public awareness of water pollution had increased significantly, leading to fear among residents and visitors, reputational damage to Scarborough, and negative impacts on tourism and livelihoods. While welcoming further proposed investment, he expressed a lack of trust without clear accountability for previous failures, described the personal financial consequences he had suffered, and called for greater transparency, honesty and effective action to restore confidence and deliver lasting improvements in bathing water quality.

Rosalind Aldcroft, Bay View Coffee House

Rosalind Aldcroft addressed the committee as a South Bay trader and regular year‑round sea swimmer, explaining that she frequently observed families and swimming groups entering the sea without necessarily being aware of water quality concerns, and cautioned that public messaging needed to strike a balance between not deterring visitors while still being clear about potential risks. She stated that water quality had improved since earlier decades but remained insufficient, and questioned whether current sampling locations and frequency provided a full and accurate picture. She asked whether testing should be extended geographically and into the winter months to allow clearer analysis of seasonal influences, including visitor numbers, weather conditions, farming runoff and storm overflow activity. She also raised concerns about the annual movement of beach sand, questioning whether pollutants could be stored in the sand and later released into the water, and whether seasonal population increases contributed to higher pollution levels. She concluded that, as a destination dependent on bathing and swimming, Scarborough owed residents and visitors the best possible water quality supported by robust testing and transparent information.

Andrew Clay, Scarborough Tourism Advisory Board and SEA LIFE Scarborough

Andrew Clay addressed the committee as General Manager of the Scarborough Sea Life Centre, outlining its 35‑year presence in the town, ownership by Merlin Entertainments, and recent significant investment demonstrating a long‑term commitment to Scarborough, environmental sustainability and the local economy. He explained that the centre relied directly on seawater pumped from North Bay for its exhibits and life‑support systems, using large volumes of water which were filtered and tested daily, making clean bathing water critical to its operation. He emphasised that, beyond being a visitor attraction, learning and conservation lay at the heart of the Sea Life Centre’s work, including education, habitat research, breeding programmes, rescue and rehabilitation of marine animals, and monitoring of local marine ecosystems. He highlighted the unique value of being located directly on the coast, enabling engagement with local habitats and wildlife, and stressed the ecological importance of clean seas given the presence of seals, cetaceans and returning species such as bluefin tuna. He also described wider environmental activity, including beach cleans and concerns about marine litter, pollution and disturbance from events such as Bonfire Night, concluding that water quality was essential not only to the centre’s viability but to marine conservation, education and the wider environmental health and reputation of Scarborough.

Members’ discussion

In response to the presentations, councillors questioned whether Steve Crawford’s concerns as a council tenant and business owner had been properly addressed, including the absence of responses from Yorkshire Water on issues such as surface water runoff, sand movement, blocked drains and historic investment failures, and why he and some local division councillors had not been involved in earlier bathing water quality summits. Members expressed concern about the effectiveness and clarity of beach signage, reputational damage to Scarborough, loss of livelihoods, and the risk of continued delay while waiting through regulatory assessment cycles. Councillors supported Rosalind Aldcroft’s observations regarding sand movement and seasonal factors, questioning whether pollutants could accumulate in sand and be released later, and calling for more geographically extensive and year‑round water testing to better understand the influence of weather, tourism levels and other external sources. Questions to Andrew Clay focused on the Sea Life Centre’s reliance on seawater pumped from North Bay, how filtered and used water was discharged, whether long‑term and seasonal water quality data existed, and whether such data could be shared publicly to inform understanding of trends during peak tourism periods. Members were also interested in whether Sea Life Centre was involved in local seagrass projects and whether the seagrass was affected by pollution. Wider issues raised included accountability for past infrastructure investment, monitoring future investment outcomes, possible links between dredging, marine habitat impacts and water quality indicators, and the urgent need to improve communication, transparency and confidence for residents, visitors and the local economy.

Mr Clay undertook to provide a response to the committee on Sea Life Centre data on sea water quality including seasonal variations and to check SLC’s involvement in local seagrass projects and potential data on pollution levels in seagrass.