Steve Siddons, who was leader of Scarborough Council from 2019-2023, is backing calls for an investigation into a £9m loan of public money that was given to Benchmark Leisure by the now-defunct council. Benchmark, the developer of the Alpamare water park located in Scarborough’s North Bay, has gone into administration, prompting fears about the loan, of which almost £8m is yet to be repaid.
” He added: “I saw lots of documents at the time that made me really concerned about this, but we couldn’t do anything about it because the deal had been done, so we were stuck with it.” In 2021, Scarborough Council ended its agreement with Benchmark Leisure despite legal challenges from the company. Sir Robert told the LDRS: “Right from the start Benchmark have failed to deliver what they said they would, and sadly it’s come to this”.