THE Department of Communities and Local Government has confirmed that it will not be calling in Scarborough Borough Council’s planning decision to approve the demolition of Scarborough’s Futurist theatre and adjoining buildings and cliff stabilisation works.

A letter to the council’s planning team from the Department states that the Secretary of State Sajid Javid has carefully considered the case against his call-in policy and is content that it should be determined by the local planning authority.

The letter goes on to say that, “the Government is committed to give more power to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning issues, and believes planning decisions should be made at the local level wherever possible.”

The council has been waiting for the Secretary of State to make a decision after its own Planning and Development Committee approved the demolition by eleven votes to three on Friday, October 20.

The council is now in a position to instruct its chosen demolition contractor to proceed with the demolition of the theatre and adjoining buildings.

The process is expected to take approximately 13 months, with the stability of the cliff behind the theatre being the council’s number one priority.

The council’s project team has worked closely with technical experts to create a detailed demolition plan that analyses the risks in great detail and puts in place methods to mitigate them.

This will involve the contractor taking a careful, phased approach to the demolition, where the buildings will be brought down bit by bit.

Cllr Derek Bastiman, leader of Scarborough Borough Council said: “We very much welcome today’s important decision, which allows us to proceed to demolition and kick start a bright new future for this prominent site in Scarborough South Bay.

"It demonstrates that our planning process is transparent, robust and comprehensive and that our councillors had the full facts in front of them to be able to make an informed decision.

“This is an important step in the continuing success of the Borough of Scarborough as a great place to live, work and visit and we now look forward to working with Flamingo Land in realising their exciting proposals for this important site.”