In 2007, the borough was threatened with extinction. In March of that year, North Yorkshire County Council was shortlisted by the Department for Communities and Local Government to become a unitary authority. If the bid had been successful then the Borough of Scarborough would — along with all other districts and boroughs in the present county of North Yorkshire — have been abolished then. The bid, however, was unsuccessful and the districts remained as they were previously constituted.
Wards of Scarborough town were Castle, Central, Eastfield, Falsgrave Park, Newby, North Bay, Northstead, Ramshill, Stepney, Weaponness, and Woodlands. Areas without namesake wards included Westborough (centre), Barrowcliff and Newlands.
In 2016, the borough ranked second in Visit England's survey of overall holiday trips and holiday spend, topped only by London.[6]
Media
Since 1882, it has been served by The Scarborough News, which is published every Thursday.
The political composition of the council at all-up elections, ignoring intervening by-elections, from the 2003 election to the final election in 2019, is as follows: