An opinion piece by Joyce Stangoe (Rev 05/06/2022) – the views expressed are those of the author.

Whitby’s popularity as the quaint North Yorkshire seaside town has never waned since the Endeavour sailed into the Town in 1997 and the number of visitors has kept going up. So much so that visiting Whitby at bank holidays or during the peak season can be a stressful experience. The small narrow streets are unsuitable for the numbers of vehicles and pedestrians, finding a parking space is a difficult for visitors and neigh impossible for some residents, and battling through crowds of tourists to do your weekly shopping has driven residents to the out of town supermarkets.

We are all aware of the housing crisis for residents in Whitby and the surrounding villages, with a lack of suitable quality, size, and affordability (rented or purchased) for local people and key workers. Local Authorities and the Government fail to recognise the long-term impact this is having on communities and small towns such as Whitby, namely we no longer have enough people living in the area to fill the jobs or children to keep all the local schools going, and public transport and general services are being cut even further.

The following document “Celebrating our distinctive heritage – North Yorkshire LEP/Historic England states under a section entitled “Places need People” “Historic places should not be theme parks. The activity, energy and decisions of people have shaped them over centuries; if they lack functioning economies and communities, they lose some of their meaning and much of their vitality. While the visitor economy is undoubtedly important, and a market with real potential for enhancement, it cannot be prioritised over ensuring the region’s places are as resilient, economically sustainable, and attractive to people who want to live and work locally. Similarly, places need to work for everyone. North Yorkshire has an ageing population, so in addition to ensuring the right facilities and housing types are available to cater to the needs of this community, creating the right conditions to enable younger people to stay in and move to the region’s towns is critical” – this sums up the situation regarding Whitby.

Having education in an area helps people think, feel, and behave in a way that contributes to their success, and improves not only their personal satisfaction but also their community. Education in Whitby seems to be in difficulties, we have extremely limited adult educational facilities, employing senior management for the three senior school vacancies I understand has not been without its challenges, and surely funding must be an issue when there are 774 spare places as shown on the Government website. The Whitby & District junior schools also show a large number of schools underutilised at present. The sixth form college figures are not recorded separately but are reportedly low, with many young people having to travel 40 plus miles per day to access schools and colleges with courses they need to access to progress on to further education.

I would query why the Authorities with funding from companies such as Sirius Mining decided to build a new University Technical College in Scarborough with the capacity to take 600 pupils aged 14 – 18. The latest government information shows this has only 135 pupils with an Ofsted rating “Good” recorded from the last inspection in 2022. Could this not have been incorporated into Whitby Sixth Form college, saving building costs and reducing our carbon footprint? Surely if we are moving young people to other schools for specific subjects, we could have used the same transport to bring pupils in the opposite direction!

“Up to 85 per cent of North Yorkshire is classed as ‘super sparse’, this presents a set of key challenges with regards to education provision” the North York’s Rural Commission established in 2019 by North Yorkshire County Council stated. “North Yorkshire has the highest number of small schools in England, however rural schools perform well, achieve better educational outcomes than urban children, yet the children are less likely to go on to further and higher education when they leave school. The sustainability of rural schools is largely attributable to falling pupil rolls, financial difficulties and schools’ standards and are at risk of closure.”

The Commission believes that “the Department for Education must revise its National Funding Formula to ensure increased support for rural super sparse secondary schools. The County Council must lead on pioneering a two-stream educational system post GCSE in rural and remote areas, with one stream focusing on vocational education while the other remains academic. The County Council and the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership must strengthen the offer for post-16 education and provide a better sense of future for young people” – surely, we should be looking at fully using our Whitby Sixth Form college as a centre of excellence bearing in mind the jobs and associated training required in Whitby.

Scarborough Borough Council have put forward a Whitby Maritime Skills Academy under the Town Deal fund costed at £10 million pounds, which will “deliver a new maritime skills facility in Whitby to provide training and certification for the maritime, offshore and renewable energy sectors, building upon the recent successful diversification of the fishery industry training school.”  It is proposed this facility be built on Endeavour Wharf and will include a training facility incorporating the existing Fishing school, presently located in the Seaman’s Mission, requiring more bespoke facilities to be built at a second location to provide specialist training environments such as for working at height, working in confined spaces, fire-fighting, and water survival pools. It states, “Investment in skills and training provision is crucial to delivering the vision for the town and is a key focus of the proposed interventions within the skills and enterprise work-stream,” but is this the best way to invest £10M for the future of our young people in the area, or is there a better alternative?

As far as I am aware since this Maritime Academy project was proposed there has been virtually no consultation with local people or businesses, apart from the Project Group personnel, so I would ask: