Posted on May 28, 2025
A senior North Yorkshire councillor has said the authority was “quite shocked” after its application for a dredging licence in Whitby Harbour was not immediately approved despite providing “as much information as in the past”.
Coun Mark Crane, the executive member for open to business, said NYC had to draft in expert consultants to help answer the “very technical questions”.
The council was granted a dredging licence for Scarborough last December and dredging began in the harbour entrance just before Christmas.
In February, the authority said it was “very hopeful” that a dredging licence for Whitby Harbour would be granted by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) “in the next month or so”.
Speaking at a full meeting of the council on Wednesday, May 21, Coun Neil Swannick said: “As regards the dredging of Whitby Harbour, there doesn’t seem to be any movement on that.”
The representative for Whitby Streonshalh added: “As we go into the holiday season where there are pleasure crafts and other vessels that want to use the harbour, could you give me any good news on that which I can take back to Whitby?”
Coun Crane said: “I wish I could give you even better news.
“We have applied for a dredging licence and we gave the MMO all the information that we would’ve ever given in the past, and indeed that we gave for Scarborough, and they came back and asked for a lot more information on the dredging that we want to do in Whitby Harbour.”
“My understanding is that we’ve had to appoint a consultant to look at that and to answer some of those very technical questions and it has now been submitted.”
The executive member for open to business added: “We have done all the work that we expected to do, we were quite shocked to receive the further reply from the Marine Management Organisation asking us a lot more technical questions and we had to get more knowledgeable people, and we’re hoping that gives us the licence very soon.”
