Whitby cliff lift 'not a luxury' say residents
GoogleA cliff lift should be preserved as a heritage asset or risk being "sorely missed" councillors have warned, ahead of a final meeting to decide its future.
Whitby's North Cliff Lift opened in 1931 but has been closed since 2022 due to corrosion and water damage, with "worst-case" repairs estimated to cost £5.5m, according to North Yorkshire Council.
Now campaigners and local councillors have called for the lift - which links North Terrace to the beach below - to be repaired, saying it "is not a luxury, it's a necessity".
Ahead the meeting on 17 March, councillor David Jeffels urged the authority "to look at the wider picture" and said "a case can be made for making the lift a heritage feature, where everyone can go".
"In Scarborough, we lost the cliff lift on the North Bay, and it's still sorely missed decades later," Jeffels said.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the cost to decommission the lift at Whitby ranges from £199,000 to £538,000.
On Monday, campaigners attended a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee at Whitby Pavilion to oppose the plans.
One local resident said a free bus service which runs during the summer to replace the lift was not adequate for elderly people and those with disabilities.
However, Chris Bourne, the council's head of harbours and coastal infrastructure, said the council was not denying disabled people access to the beach, and that slipways and ramps could also be used.
Councillors objecting to the lift's permanent closure also spoke at the meeting about the importance of maintaining the feature in a town where tourism is of major economic importance and which "benefits the rest of the county".
A motion was passed recognising the importance of the historic heritage asset for Whitby, requesting an up-to-date survey with "robust costings" and a business plan to be drawn up, to "ensure the valuable asset remains as a going concern for residents and visitors of Whitby".
North Yorkshire Council's executive committee is set to make a decision on the Cliff Lift's future at a meeting on 17 March.
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