Call for unity over Floral Hall plans

SENIOR East Riding councillors have called for an end to a war of words over a new-look Floral Hall in Hornsea.

They say a full replacement for the current facility will only happen with external funding support from regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

And they insist the agency is adamant that if funding is agreed, the new venue should be built next to the town's leisure centre.

Some campaigners in the resort continue to support the idea of redeveloping the existing Esplanade site.

But at a meeting of East Riding Council's cabinet, councillors called for people in the town to be realistic about the situation.

Councillor Jane Evison said: "This is not about the nasty East Riding, it's about us wanting to spend a lot of money to improve facilities, but we are not in a position to do that on the current site.

"If that is the deal on the table, we have got to go for it."

Councillors heard if the new hall got the go-ahead, the existing site would be used as a landscaped open space with limited extra car parking.

Cllr Evison said Yorkshire Forward required evidence of wider potential economic benefit to the town and the surrounding area before releasing any funds.

But she said it was clear the agency would only consider supporting any new development on a new site.

The East Riding Council has already earmarked slightly more than £2m towards the cost of the new development but latest estimates have put the likely cost at more than £6.6m.

Councillors agreed to start work preparing a planning application for the leisure centre site, but have reserved the right to revert to a smaller community centre scheme if extra funding was not made available before the end of next year.