Harrogate Borough Council has estimated a budget shortfall of £15 million as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, told the first virtual meeting of the authority’s Cabinet that the shortfall was largely down to a loss of income during the lockdown period.

Mr Sampson said the authority may have to look to furlough some council staff in the future in order to address the shortfall.

It comes less than a fortnight since the authority predicted a gap of £10 million due to the outbreak.

As a result of the estimated funding gap, council officials have written to each department at the authority to ensure that any spending is only in essential areas until a recovery plan is produced.

Harrogate Borough Council offices.

Council bosses said the shortfall was largely down to a loss in income in areas such as car parking, leisure and the Harrogate Convention Centre.

Mr Sampson said the authority will have to look closely at how it recovers financially.

“The impact is quite significant,” he said.

“There is a need to look at how we are going to address that in the medium term.

“Whatever we do, we will have to make sure it is in accordance with government guidance.”

The authority has received £1.6 million in emergency financial support from government to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Paul Foster, head of finance at the council, said the authority would continue to lobby government for further financial support.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire County Council estimated last month that tackling coronavirus will leave the authority with a £65 million shortfall.

The amount of people who used Harrogate’s food bank more than doubled when lockdown was introduced and volunteers fear another spike could be on the way when measures are lifted.

Figures from The Trussell Trust show that from March 13 until March 31 this year, the facility at Mowbray Community Church, West Moreland Street, saw 224 people collect food – a 146% increase on the same period last year.

The food bank also saw its busiest ever session on the first Friday of lockdown as 90 people came to collect within two hours.

Jan Bathurst, who has been team leader at the facility for the past seven years, said she feared there will be more who need support after lockdown as the economy struggles.

Donations which have been made to the food bank at Mowbray Community Church on Westmoreland Street.

“I think demand will go up after lockdown and we will see another spike,” she said.

Among those who needed support were people on zero hours contracts and families with children on free school meals.

Others included the self-employed, people with mental health problems and those struggling with debt.

Meanwhile, social distancing measures have been put in place at the facility to keep both volunteers and those who need the food bank safe.

The food bank now pre-packs food for people who have been referred to them by bodies such as Citizens’ Advice to collect.

Jan Bathurst, Team Leader at the Harrogate District Food Bank.

Those referred to the facility are also no longer allowed into the church to collect their packages or have a coffee with volunteers.

Instead, a table is placed in front of the entrance where food is handed over to them on collection.

Helen Ketteringham, who has volunteered at the food bank since it was opened in 2013, said the lockdown has been tough to deal with.

“It was a shock for everybody,” she said. 

“A lot of the volunteers at the food bank are elderly and they had to stay at home to be shielded.”

Currently, the food bank operates on a team of 12 who help to prepare packages and distribute them.

Donations have also continued to come into the facility, with the majority of food being offered by the public.

A Harrogate headteacher hopes schools will be given enough time to plan for the return of pupils when lockdown is lifted.

Chris Parkhouse, who has been in charge of Grove Road Community Primary School since 2017, said he has been given no further guidance on the return of schools so far from government, despite speculation in the national press.

Mr Parkhouse said he was given little time to plan for the closure back in March and learned the news from the government at the same time as the rest of the country.

He said he would want time to prepare further social distancing measures at the school to add to those that are already in place.

This could include planning to split children into smaller classes if they are phased back into school by year group.

At the moment, Grove Road teaches 20 pupils from key worker families and a further 300 are taught online.

Chris Parkhouse, headteacher at Grove Road Community Primary School in Harrogate.

The school is also the ‘Harrogate hub’ for children of key workers across the district and is open seven days a week.

As part of preparations for the lockdown, children have been encouraged to wash their hands regularly and assemblies have been cut back to comply with social distancing.

Instead, virtual assemblies are held every Friday by Zoom to keep in touch with pupils and award the ‘star pupil award’ for the week.

Mr Parkhouse said the lockdown has been tough to deal with, but that the school has been prepared.

“I do not think there is a headteacher in the land that has not found it challenging,” he said.

“What I’m hoping for is that we are given more time to make sure that the school is safe to reopen.

“The difficult thing at the moment is that we have not had any further guidance.”

Schools across the nation were closed on March 20 as part of further measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.

In primary schools, exams for year six pupils were cancelled. Grove Road currently has 45 children in that year group.

Mr Parkhouse said he would like to see older children back in school to prepare them for secondary education.

“I hope that we can still help them through this period of their lives and spend a bit more time in school,” he said.