Scarborough's public spaces are 50 to 100 years old. The design of Scarborough's parks, gardens and streets was based on the cultural and sociol-economic conditions of Victorian times. They were designed for the condition of large numbers of people using the space. Conditions have changed and the time has come to redo what the Victorians left behind.
Declining tourism, maintenance problems, a different attitude towards public spaces and more extensive use have changed the demands towards the towns spaces. Scarborough has to reinvent its public spaces to set a quality framework for the urban renaissance of the town.
A fantastic town to live, play and work in!

Scarborough has a vast amount of public space. It includes parks, gardens, streets, squares and beaches. The scale of Scarborough's public space makes it vulnerable; many spaces are under-used and the maintenance budgets are spread out over too large an area resulting in too many unsafe spaces that have lost their dignity.
The reduction of public space and a clear hierarchy in the importance of public spaces are necessary to improve the overall quality. What are Scarborough's prime public spaces? In which areas can we, by introducing a low-maintenance design, save money? Where do we need safe and well-used public spaces?

This Public Space Framework for Scarborough focuses on the town centre in the belief that an attractive and diverse town centre is vital for the town development as a whole. In many towns in Europe urban regeneration has started with a big investment in the town's public space in combination with an investment plan that incorporates private and public investment. Working in the public domain is a public affair and will require a substantial governmental investment. Good public space will change the perception of a town, increase land value and create a sense of optimism towards private investors.

The proposed investment in Scarborough's public space is a 'grand project'. It will involve many people and create new jobs. Local skill development, job training and the development of a local delivery team are crucial for the successful implementation of the project and the local ownership of the works involved.
Setting up a Groundwork Trust, working with local contractors and suppliers, involving local businesses and introducing public-private partnerships are ways to stimulate the local economy.

The character of Scarborough is different to many of the other Renaissance towns, there are no large tracts of disused land, no problematic 60's infrastructure projects that have consumed sections of the town centre and no rail yards that provide an easy answer for Renaissance.
The Renaissance in Scarborough is a project of refining the latent qualities of the town, of working between the assets to fill in the gaps.
It is not about providing an icon for a town that desperately needs a new identity to attract interest, for perched as it is on the cliff top. Scarborough is iconic in its own right.

Investing in public space is a long-term investment; if done well it will last for a period of 50 to 100 years. The aim of the investment is to create an even more beautiful town that will attract new people who want to live, work and play in Scarborough. The Public Space Framework is the spatial and physical component of the Scarborough Master Plan, a comprehensive strategy to invest and secure the town's future on many levels: by creating a new Regional Role, by focusing on new Green Gateways, by reinvigorating Scarborough's assets in 'The Seaside String of Pearls', by giving the town a 'Living Heart', by creating a quality town through the Streets and Public Space and by ensuring that the mechanism to deliver the project is realistic and quality controlled.
The Public Space Framework should be read in conjunction with the Scarborough Master Plan produced for the Town Team by John Thompson and Partners, and as the spatial continuation of the Scarborough Renaissance Charter.
There will be considerable effort in implementing the changes outlined in these documents, but as Sir Alan Ayckbourn said in his afterword to the Town Charter: "Jumping off a cliff is surely no real alternative to saving something we love".