North Yorkshire Council (NYC) is not in beneficial occupation of Tuckers Field on West Cliff. NYC solely holds the land in trust on behalf of the ratepayers of the Parish of Whitby, who paid for its purchase. Tucker’s Field area was purchased in 1927 by Whitby Urban District Council (WUDC), and it was done in two parts and under the Public Health Acts 1875-1925 to provide recreational open space for use by Whitby residents and visitors.
For many years Scarborough Borough Council abused this trust by permitting its use as “overflow” car parking, and this is being continued by NYC. The photo above shows the result of this abuse, with significant degradation of the surface, meaning that its use “for recreation” will not be possible for some time. This situation is the result of an unwillingness to provide adequate car parking in out-of-town Park-and-Ride facilities, and represents gross dereliction of its duties; NYC councillors should be utterly ashamed. This is just the tip of iceberg in parking, with major problems in various other parts of the town, exacerbated on busy weekends.
We call on NYC to respect the trust, and the original purpose that this land was purchased for, and prevent future car parking on it. This should be one key conclusion of the long awaited car parking review for Whitby, which has been promised by that council since at least 2018.
