The long-term future of the community football pitch at Scarborough Sports Village is set to be secured with senior councillors asked to approve a programme of urgent repairs.
The 3G pitch at the home ground of Scarborough Athletic Football Club, which is owned by North Yorkshire Council, was due to be resurfaced this summer.
But a site survey revealed serious and unexpected structural issues, including a defective drainage system installed when the facility was first constructed in 2017.
Due to the severity of the findings, the pitch is not available for competitive fixtures for the start of the 2025/26 season.
Technical experts have been exploring the works required before the pitch can be resurfaced, with the aim of speeding up the repairs and reducing the impact on both the club and other users of the ground.
A number of remedial options are due to be discussed by the council’s executive on Tuesday, 17 June, with the authority committed to ensuring the urgent works are completed in time for the start of the 2026/27 season.
Corporate director of community development, Nic Harne, said: “We understand how difficult and disruptive this is for all users of the pitch.
“We all want to ensure this issue is resolved as quickly as possible during the next football season, despite its complexity, and it’s imperative that we secure the long-term future of the community football pitch.
“A lot of detailed work has been ongoing to present a potential pathway ahead, and a range of remedial options will now be presented to the council’s executive next week.
“We are continuing to carry out positive discussions with the contractors who were originally involved, as well as with users of the pitch and other agencies.”
A number of remedial options are to be considered by councillors. The preferred course of action recommended by officers is the partial excavation and installation of a geo-mattress sub-layer to the pitch.
This would then address the structural defects and allow the pitch to be resurfaced.
The full package of works could cost about £3.2 million and take up to 44 weeks to be completed – but it is hoped that the total cost and timescale can be significantly reduced.
We have received a petition calling for the football pitch to be repaired, which has more than 3,300 signatures.
While the pitch is unavailable, Scarborough Athletic have agreed to play their home fixtures at Bridlington Town’s ground during the 2025/26 season.
The temporary ground share agreement has been approved by both the National League and the Northern Premier League.