Harrogate Borough Council says the £11.5m build cost of the Civic Centre is not a true picture of the cost of the project 

Reacting to a Stray Ferret exclusive on Friday, the Council argues the overall cost was lower because of money received in the sale of its other premises. 

Harrogate Borough Council argued that the £11.5m reported as the final build cost by The Stray Ferret did not reflect the overall cost of the new council offices at Knapping Mount.   

The figure of £11.5m for building the Civic Centre was obtained by a Freedom of Information request made by The Stray Ferret. The Stray Ferret asked: What was the final cost to Harrogate Borough Council of building its new Civic Centre at St Luke’s Avenue?

Its FOI response said: 

“Final account negotiations were ongoing between the Council and Harry Fairclough prior to Harry Fairclough entering into administration. The Council’s view of the gross valuation of the final account sum for the building contract is £11,516,200.” 

The council said that the figure it released as part of the FOI may change as it continues to negotiate costs with the construction firm, Harry Fairclough Ltd, which has gone into administration. 

It also said that the £11.5m figure to build its new offices did not take into account the fact that millions of pounds was generated through the sale of its other council department buildings to fund the move—these included the sale of Victoria Park House, Scottsdale House, Springfield House and Crescent Gardens. It also argued that moving staff onto one site would result in savings of £1m a year on overheads. 

The council said the £11m figure was always in the public domain. However, in a leaflet distributed by the ruling Conservative party in 2014 during a consultation about the planned build at Knapping Mount, the £8.7m was reported as a gross figure, with the sale of the offices to be deducted from this: 

Taken from a Conservative leaflet distributed to local households in 2014

The council had refused to confirm the cost in response to previous FOI requests, citing commercial sensitivity. Having now been released, the numbers are still confusing for residents of the district. 

The Stray Ferret requested the information in the FOI as part of a detailed look into the net cost of the move to Knapping Mount, the sale of its former offices and whether or not the council has met its original stated objectives for the whole project.    

A full report of our findings will be published once complete.  

The final build cost for Harrogate’s new civic centre has been revealed as £11,516,200.

It is almost £3m more than the budget announced by Harrogate Borough Council at the outset of the project in 2015.

The figure was revealed to The Stray Ferret after a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Previously, the council had refused to announce the cost on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”. Contractor Harry Fairclough (Construction) Limited entered administration in February this year.

The council said: “Final account negotiations were ongoing between the Council and Harry Fairclough prior to Harry Fairclough entering into administration.”

In 2015, when the council first began work at the Knapping Mount site, the expected build cost was £8.7m.

Harrogate Borough Council said its intention was to unite all staff on one site, saving £1m per year through efficiencies as a result. It argued its existing offices across five sites were not fit for purpose.

Having first put its historic Crescent Gardens building on the market in July 2015, HBC finally announced it had completed a sale to Impala Estates in January this year for £4m. The company said it intends to refurbish the building as offices.

Two events at Harrogate Convention Centre have been called off because of coronavirus.

The Morrisons supplier conference on 24th March and the three-day IPIG medical conference in May have both been postponed because of the spread of the virus.

However, the AireCon gaming festival is taking place this weekend with 2,500 attendees and the Conservative Party Spring Forum is still currently scheduled for early April.

Kim Wilson, who chairs guesthouse group Accommodation Harrogate, said she believed the two postponed events were relatively small and did not bring significant contributions to the local economy. The Morrisons event would have been mostly day delegates, while those at the IPIG conference kept mostly to the venue itself. New dates have yet to be confirmed for either.

Discussing the growing impact of coronavirus, she said: “I think across town, and across the country generally, we need to hunker down a bit and do what we can to get through.

“There are big events cancelling elsewhere in the country but they are already rescheduling for September onwards. That would be a sensible thing for the Convention Centre to offer, to bring the event to Harrogate in a few months’ time.”

Retailers in the Harrogate district have welcomed the news of a break in their business rates to help them deal with the impact of coronavirus.

The announcement in this week’s Budget will see retail, leisure and hospitality firms with a rateable value below £51,000 receive the tax break in the coming financial year. 

It has been welcomed by business groups, with both Independent Harrogate (IH) and Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) saying it will be badly needed by businesses worrying about the impact of the pandemic.

Sandra Doherty of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce

Chamber CEO Sandra Doherty said:

“This rates break could mean the difference between businesses surviving into next year and what could otherwise have been many more empty units around our towns. However, we shouldn’t be complacent – this is a short term measure and local businesses still need our support in the coming months and years.” 

William Woods of Independent Harrogate also raised concerns about the extent to which businesses would benefit. 

“It is just not fair the high street has to pay the lion’s share of tax when online businesses hardly pay anything. It’s only smaller businesses that benefit from rate relief for a year – what about good family businesses like Hoopers that will get no benefit?” 

He added that, in the current climate, Independent Harrogate would be renewing its calls to delay any planned increase in parking charges.

Nick Brown, the Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, has put together a list of wide-ranging questions he wants Harrogate Borough Council to answer about its involvement in the 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships in Harrogate. 

The list of 12 detailed questions, seen by The Stray Ferret, shows Cllr Brown believes there are still many serious issues around the UCI which need examining- from the council’s role in bringing the nine days of racing to town, to the liability for repairs to the Stray in the wake of the event.  

Cllr Brown, who declined to comment on his list, has already presented it to members of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, which holds the council’s executive to account. The Commission meets this Monday to establish the scope of its investigation into the preparation for, and consequences of, the cycling event.  

Some of Cllr Brown’s 12 detailed questions:

• Is there any likelihood of compensation to those organisations who lost considerable amounts of money, through no fault of themselves?  
• What insurance arrangements were in place for the event and who precisely arranged them?  
• What due diligence did HBC do on Yorkshire 2019 to ensure they had the assets and abilities to reinstate the Stray in the event it became a mud bath?

News of the investigation has been welcomed by the Stray Defence Association. Its chairman, Judy D’Arcy Thompson, said:

“An investigation would be very welcome. We have been saying that some answers are called for.  We’re sympathetic to the employees of Harrogate Borough Council who are having to pick up this awful mess. I do feel there are people who should take more responsibility.” 

The list of questions concludes with a comment from Cllr Brown: “In view of the huge sums of money involved in running events such as the UCI, at a significant potential cost to our council tax payers, we should… give priority to our, hopefully, constructive investigations but above all take more note of the needs of all our residents and businesses.” 

Harrogate Borough Council declined to comment on Cllr Brown’s list saying the Overview and Scrutiny Commission is yet to take a decision on the terms of reference for its examination of the UCI event.

UCI Image courtesy of Tony Bailey

The threat of coronovirus and increasing prospect of restrictions on travel could have a major impact on the tourism industry in the Harrogate district. 

With the area’s economy heavily reliant on tourists and business visitors, anything which deters people from coming – or any cancellation of large events – could have serious repercussions. 

Kim Wilson, who is chair of guesthouse association Accommodation Harrogate and runs The Camberley and The Lodge with her partner, said although there had not been cancellations, occupancy rates had been below average for this time of year. 

“The hardest thing to quantify is reasons for not booking,” she said. “It has been one of the quietest periods we’ve had – we’re normally full every Saturday night, but in February we’ve been half- or three-quarters full.” 

Although several events around the UK, such as the London Book Fair, have been called off because of coronavirus, no conferences have yet been cancelled in Harrogate – including the Conservative Party Spring Forum, which is set to go ahead at Harrogate Convention Centre in early April.  

Meanwhile, other events are still expected to go ahead this month around the district, including Harrogate Charity Beer Festival this weekend and Springtime Live at the Great Yorkshire Showground at the end of March. 

Springtime Live is still going ahead as planned at the end of March

A spokesman for organisers the Yorkshire Agricultural Society said: “We continue to follow advice from the Government regarding Coronavirus and as such, there are no plans to cancel any events held here.   

“Appropriate measures have been put in place including stepping up hygiene messaging across the site and we are arranging for extra sanitizing gels. We will continue to monitor the situation.” 

Boost for ‘staycations’

Some hotels, meanwhile, are hoping to benefit from British people taking more holidays in the UK this year. 

Simon Cotton, managing director of HRH Group, which owns The Yorkshire Hotel and The White Hart in Harrogate, said: “I’ve heard quite a lot of people saying, ‘I was going to go abroad and now I’m thinking of just making a staycation of it’.” 

As vice-chair of the Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, representing the larger hotels in the district, he said there did not yet seem to be any cause for alarm. 

“We’re preparing in case things get worse,” he said. “That’s sensible and the right thing to do, but in the hope that these are things we won’t need to do.” 

Measures being taken include stocking up on sanitising gel, carrying out additional cleaning of frequent touch-points such as door handles and lift buttons, and asking staff to report any signs of illness before coming to work. 

Mr Cotton said, in the event of a hotel being directly affected by a case of coronavirus in a guest or member of staff, the association would work together to support it and to honour other guests’ bookings so they could still visit Harrogate. 

Businesses struggling to stay afloat could be dealt a devastating blow if the coronavirus crisis worsens in the Harrogate district. 

After months of Brexit uncertainty, the negative impact of the UCI cycling for some businesses in September, and weeks of bad weather at the start of the year, spring could have brought much-needed relief. 

Now, fears are growing that restrictions on travel and public gatherings could further impact businesses – many of which are teetering on the edge of survival. 

Sue Kramer, who owns Crown Jewellers on Commercial Street with her husband, said:

“If it does take hold, I think it could be catastrophic for many businesses.

“We’re fortunate not to be struggling, but there are many who are. How many businesses have enough of a cushion to tide them over for an unknown length of time?” 

Her views were echoed by William Woods, of Woods Fine Linens of Harrogate, who said: “We’re very concerned. There are no cases in Harrogate yet, but it could have a devastating effect not only on our business but the whole town centre.” 

Concerns over self-employed

The government this week announced it would offer statutory sick pay from the first day of absence to anyone who was self-isolating in order to avoid the risk of spreading coronavirus. However, this would not benefit self-employed people, or those on low wages or zero-hours contracts. 

With a higher than average number of start-up businesses in the district, along with many jobs in low-paid sectors including care and hospitality, there could be resistance to self-isolating among people who would stand to lose two weeks’ wages as a result. 

The Victoria Shopping Centre in Harrogate has reported no noticeable impact on footfall so far

Kate Curtis, an independent inventory clerk who works with estate agents in the Harrogate area to assess properties, said it could also affect people working on commission, who rely on the extra money on top of their basic wage and would lose it if they were not working. 

“If you are the main bread winner, there’s a huge amount of pressure to keep earning,” she said. “As a busy self-employed person, I’ve struggled to keep up with the advice because it seems to change all the time.” 

Energy surveyor Nick Cushing, who lives in Wath near Ripon and works across North and West Yorkshire, said: “As somebody who works on my own, if I’m incapacitated, the earning stops immediately. 

“If you worked for somebody else, you would be more willing to drop tools and say, ‘it’s not worth it’. When you are self-reliant and self-employed, you will carry on doing what you are doing until the very last moment and sometimes beyond.”