THE Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has said he has not received a formal request from North Yorkshire Council to support efforts to reopen Whitby’s Cliff Lift.
David Skaith made the comments at a meeting in Whitby on Wednesday, after campaigners raised concerns about the pace of progress towards restoring the historic attraction.
A North Yorkshire Council proposal to permanently decommission the town’s historic North Cliff Lift, which opened in 1931, was postponed at a meeting in March and a new report detailing the state of the lift is expected by the end of October, officers revealed.
Local resident Peter Graham asked whether Mr Skaith’s York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority would be able to support the site’s reopening.
Speaking at a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, he said: “What we had achieved was stopping the plan to permanently close the lift, but not yet to reopen it.”
Mr Graham added: “It was agreed to keep the lift in the news, but disappointingly, in the six months since, nothing has been forthcoming officially from North Yorkshire Council.”
Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, 30.09.26. Courtesy Anttoni Numminen/LDRS
In response, Mr Skaith said the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority had not yet been formally approached about contributing funding to the project.
He told the committee: “I’ve still not been formally approached by North Yorkshire Council leadership to say this is a project that they need or want funding or support with.”
“It is not my role as the mayor to develop business cases for projects.”
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Mr Skaith said: “It is very much dependent on them to present me with the business case.”
He said the Combined Authority remained willing to consider proposals if they were brought forward.
Whitby Cliff Lift. Google Maps.
“We are still waiting for what a formal business case proposal from North Yorkshire Council would look like,” he said.
“I do see it as something that we must explore.”
The comments came during a wider discussion about the future of the lift, which has been closed since 2022 due to corrosion and water damage, with “worst-case” repairs previously estimated to cost £5.5 million, according to NYC.
Campaigners, Scarborough and Whitby’s MP, 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”.
Members of the public also questioned why the findings of a survey commissioned earlier this year had not yet been published.
In response, North Yorkshire Council said the work was still ongoing.
“The council engaged Align Property Services to carry out the survey and associated estimates on the repairs required for the lift. Surveyors started work on site in June, and work is still ongoing,” a council representative said.
NYC added that specialist consultants had completed most of their investigations but were awaiting further technical input before finalising their report.
A council statement said: “Subject to timely feedback from the specialist, Align is aiming to provide North Yorkshire Council with a draft report by the end of October.”