The letter has been copied to European MPs, the government office for Yorkshire and Humber, local government minister Ruth Kelly, the Environment Department and Yorkshire Forward among others.

Whitby Today says the letter states: ‘With Scarborough Council as the applicant, the planning authority, the site owner and the future landlord, we feel their urgency in pushing this over-development through the planning process has more to do with grabbing grants and avoiding new legislation than with sustainable or sympathetic development.’

John Freeman, chairman of Whitby Marina Action Group, said that they were moved to act after nearly 80 changes were made to the original planning application, saying: ‘With the amount of changes they have made it is definitely a new development and we felt we had to do something.

The five organisations are calling for a halt to the proposed development until three conditions have been met. The first is until the Ombudsman’s report on the council’s standard of consultation on this project has been published, although the group claim the council has said it will ignore the findings. The council has strongly denied this was ever said.

They also ask for an updated flood risk assessment to be carried out on the newly re-designated Zone 3 flood plain.