Real bones will not be used for Whale Bone Arch

A plan to replace Whitby's Whale Bone Arch with like-for-like real whale bones has been abandoned, the town's mayor has confirmed.

​The popular landmark has stood at the top of West Cliff for more than 170 years but, despite being replaced in 2002, its structure is deteriorating.

​All options to source genuine replacement bones had been "exhausted", according to the town's mayor Sandra Turner.

​"The only viable option available is to commission high-quality replicas," a Whitby Town Council report said.

Turner told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "North Yorkshire Council has looked at all the avenues, which we knew were remote and difficult, to say the least, and there isn't a set of whale bones available.

​"Obviously, we would never condone any whales being killed so that we could have a set of whale bones, that's always been the stance from day one."

​The last replacement bones came from Whitby's twin town of Barrow in Alaska after a worldwide appeal.

The whale was said to have been killed legally by the state's native Inuit population in 1996.

Alaskan authorities had tried to trace those involved in the previous procurement, North Yorkshire Council said.

The local authority is now seeking quotes for replica options, which includes consideration of materials, durability, cost, and long-term maintenance implications.

​"We're going to wait now and see what comes back on costings and what possibility there is for a replica set, and then the decision will be taken," said Turner.

The mayor said she hoped a replacement set could be secured by "the summer at the latest", but warned that she could not say that was "written in stone".

​North Yorkshire Council would pay for the replacement replica, Turner confirmed.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.