Councillor Tom Seston, who represents Scarborough’s Eastfield division and leads North Yorkshire Council’s Reform UK group, said he had used the Freedom of Information Act to get figures for the number of police visits to the Valley Road premises.
He said that in 2023, there were 162 police visits, while in 2024, there were 211, then in 2025, after he said The Lodge opened, there were 695.
“That’s an increase of 229% in a year,” Seston said.
Robert Everall, another Reform UK town councillor, called for both sites to be shut down.
However, Labour’s Chris Clarke, told the meeting: “If we reject this application, where do these vulnerable adults go?
“Without The Redcliffe and The Lodge, we will be forced to place people in ad hoc bed and breakfast accommodation at astronomical cost to the taxpayer.”
Meanwhile, speaking from the public gallery, a man who said he lived near The Redcliffe, said: “I don’t think closing these places down is the answer, they need to be managed better.
“My teenage daughter has never suffered any intimidation. Putting people onto the streets is not the answer.”
