David Rhodes, managing director of Benchmark Leisure, the firm behind the £150 million Sands development and council officers had been in negotiation with Merlin Entertainments – Europe's largest visitor attraction operator for months, about bringing a LEGOLAND Discovery Centre to the town.

Councillors and officials had been flown across to Berlin to see the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre there, presentations had been made at several public meetings and an exhibition was set up in the Town Hall.

A special planning meeting had been organised for April 10 for councillors to consider the matter and only last week people attending a Town Team meeting at the Royal Hotel gave their unanimous support to the project.

However, if the deal was to work, the council and Benchmark had to commit to having the facility ready for business by April next year.
That meant the council was forced to go public with the proposals in order to gauge public opinion and go through proper planning procedures.
Crucially, a deal was never signed and bosses at Merlin made it clear from the outset that a final decision would not be made until the early summer.

The council had no option but to go public if the scheme was to be ready for next Easter.

Last week a special meeting of the council was held behind closed doors to discuss the possibility of a financial package to help ensure the project went ahead.

News that the deal had fallen through was met with universal disappointment.

North Bay councillors Bonnie Purchon and Guy Smith said they were devastated by the news that Merlin Entertainments had pulled out of a deal to build a LEGOLAND Discovery Centre on the Atlantis site.

Cllr Purchon who also owns a hotel in Columbus Ravine said: "This is a very sad day for Scarborough. This was going to be a wonderful attraction for the town."

Cllr Smith said: "It seems that the efforts of a lot of people have been wasted. To say that we are disappointed would be an understatement."

Scarborough MP Robert Goodwill said: "It is very upsetting and a big disappointment. I was looking forward to it coming here. It remains to be seen if the financial uncertainty and problems in the UK economy may be behind it.

"Scarborough has plenty of other attractions. but this would have been the jewel in the crown.

"It must be very disappointing for those who have been working on the project. I hope something can be found to replace it. Legoland would have been the icing on the cake. We still have the cake but there will not be as much icing as we would have hoped."

Jack Stephenson, boss of Shoreline Suncruisers, which runs buses along the seafront, said: "I am extremely disappointed. It was just the type of thing that Scarborough wanted and one has to wonder why they have pulled it. My sincere hope is that we are not just going to end up with apartment blocks and chalets and nothing else in the way of attractions.

"When The Sands development was first mooted it was said there would be equal emphasis on leisure activities as well as apartments and so on. It is essential to have the leisure facilities."

Ed Blakely, spokesman for Scarborough Hospitality Association, said: "It will be a major blow for both the town and the hotels and guesthouses. It is something we hoped would bring in plenty of people.
"We can only hope they can reconsider their decision. Scarborough is still up and coming with plenty of attractions but that would have been the icing on the cake. It would have been a good thing to have but it is not the end of the world."