Outdoor centre closes permanently after 70 years

An outdoor education centre near Whitby is to permanently close after 70 years due to rising repair costs.

North Yorkshire Council members voted to end any further investment in East Barnby Outdoor Centre and hand the site's lease back to its owner at a meeting earlier.

The centre shut temporarily in December after concerns about the condition of the electrics and the council said significant investment would have been required for the site to be reopened.

Annabel Wilkinson, executive member for education, learning and skills, said the centre had provided "generations of young people with impactful residential and day experiences".

In 2023, the council agreed to spend £4.2m refurbishing its Bewerley Park and East Barnby centres, but while Bewerley Park was modernised, work never took place at East Barnby, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Wilkinson said the site was leased from the Mulgrave Estate.

Liz Colling, chair of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, said East Barnby has "suffered from years of underinvestment" and as the council did not own the centre there was "no other option but to surrender the property back to the landlord".

Concerns were raised by some councillors about the future provision of outdoor activities in the area.

Outdoor education would continue to be offered from Birch Hall Scout Camp, between Whitby and Scarborough until July 2028, while the council looked at longer-term options, the meeting heard.

Colling said: "We also know that every effort has been made at Birch Hall, but there are some constraints there, and the inability to use it at the weekend – which I understand why – and the lack of disabled access, means that some very vulnerable people are not going to be able to experience the outdoor activities."

She said councillors wanted to stress "the importance of the provision in the east of the county and the importance of a coastal location to facilitate all that the coast has to offer".

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