Here is a potted history of the significant democracy-related events affecting the Whitby area.

• Whitby Urban District Council (WUDC) was formed in 1894, and first met in Jan 1895.
• The WUDC Act of1905 was a private bill they then put through Parliament to allow them to take over the running of the harbour from the Port & Harbour Trustees, who owned the piers, quays, harbour walls, etc. The Act also allowed them to purchase the bed of the river and harbour from the Lord of Manor, as far as to Ruswarp road bridge.
• From 1905 to 1974, WUDC was the local government authority for the town of Whitby, with some wider functions such as Highways being provided by NYCC.
• The 1968 Maud Report on local government re-organisation had proposed that the Whitby area be included in the Tees Valley functional economic area and thus cease to be part of North Yorkshire. After much local controversy and resistance, the Whitby rural and urban districts instead became part of SBC in 1974. It remained part of the Whitby & Cleveland Parliamentary constituency until 1992, when it was moved into the Scarborough & Whitby constituency.
• After 1974, SBC operated through a committee structure, which allowed local councillors from the Whitby area to participate fully in decisions taken which affected their local area. For example, in 1985, local Whitby councillors defeated property development plans for the Upper Harbour area of Whitby, by securing a resolution at SBC Full Council that in any development of the Upper Harbour the land reclaimed from the Harbour shall be used “for marine purposes only”. Further land reclamation was to be reserved for use as a yachting marina and services.
• In May 1997, the Australian-built replica of Captain Cook’s Whitby-built ship HMS Endeavour sailed into her “home port”. The resultant national and international media coverage transformed Whitby’s economic fortunes: it became a leading tourism destination. SBC estimated that there were 4.5 million visitors to Whitby during the Endeavour stay in May 1997. The replica Endeavour made four repeat visits to Whitby before returning to Australia in 2004.
• Following the visit, in 1998, SBC brought forward proposals to redevelop the remaining Upper Harbour / Marina land. The ‘waterfront development’ project would add further pontoons; provide better on-shore facilities for marina users; and ‘regenerate’ the area by allowing commercial property development of the remaining land for residential, hotel, and retail uses.
• Local residents again objected most strongly. A Town Poll was eventually called on the issue in May 2000. The turnout was higher than for a General Election and showed that 86% of voters opposed any commercial development on the Upper Harbour site. The land was to be used for marine purposes only.
• In response, SBC commissioned consultants to hold a Community Planning weekend. Several years of dispute ensued but a Town meeting held in 2004 voted 400-1 against the revised plans. SBC’s preferred commercial development partner withdrew from the scheme and SBC finally conceded that the proposed development would have required a Harbour Revision Order under the Harbours Act 1964. The SBC Chief Executive acknowledged that, given the level of local opposition such an application was unlikely to be successful. After several further iterations, and an appeal to the Local Government Ombudsman, the new Marina Services building finally opened in June 2010. The upper harbour land was developed for marine purposes only, in accordance with the SBC Council resolution of 4 March 1985.
• The remaining reclaimed land in the Upper Harbour was used for car parking. Those car parks became a major revenue-earner for SBC, since the number of visitors to Whitby has continued to increase steadily throughout the decades following the kick-start provided by the visit of the replica HMS Endeavour. Objections to SBC’s financial treatment of the income from the land in Whitby harbour have resulted in SBC’s Annual Accounts not having been signed off by the External Auditor since the 2014 – 2015 financial year. That issue is due to come to Court shortly, for the Court to decide what is actually harbour land. How can a Council be responsible for a Town from 1974 and not actually know what is harbour land!
• From 2001, SBC implemented executive governance by a Cabinet comprising eight Portfolio holders, to replace the Committee structure which had allowed much wider participation in SBC decision-making about local areas by local councillors.
• Another Town Poll was called in 2009, and again in 2010, to answer the question: “Would the people of Whitby like to be part of a local authority independent of Scarborough Borough Council?”. But given very limited publicity, plus the fact that no polling cards were issued and no postal votes were allowed, the turnout was too low to carry the overwhelmingly clear message of the Town Poll held in 2000.
• Continued dissatisfaction resulted in Whitby Town Council (and Filey Town Council) passing votes of no confidence in SBC in Dec 2017. Since Scarborough town is unparished, thousands of its residents instead signed an on-line vote of no confidence in its administration.
• Local electors in Whitby again called for a Town Poll at the Annual Town Assembly in 2018. The poll question submitted was “Do you want Whitby to leave Scarborough Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council to become part of the new Tees Valley Combined Authority?”. The wording was rejected by SBC as ‘unlawful’, so the Poll did not take place. The Editor of the Whitby Gazette newspaper used his editorial comment column to slam the leadership of SBC. (WG Fri 04 May 2018) saying : “But in all the chatter, there is a single question… Why? Why would people want a Town Poll? It’s not borne from a sudden desire to join Redcar etc, as nice as that is. It sprouts from a deep dislike of SBC’s leadership – and that is the message that needs to be heeded, and dealt with. Whitby people should not take SBC’s lack of engagement or public diplomacy personally though. SBC’s leadership emits contempt for all and sundry, and its current manner and style is the talk throughout Scarborough among everyone and every organisation.”
• April 1st 2023, North Yorkshire Council replaces North Yorkshire County Council and Scarborough Borough Council.