Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any new coronavirus deaths for the last six days.

The last time the hospital recorded a death was on July 7. That came after more than two weeks without any deaths.

It means that Harrogate District Hospital remains on 81 deaths and 139 patient discharges after treatment for coronavirus.

Read more:

• A Harrogate woman’s account of coronavirus four months on
• How many coronavirus deaths Harrogate care homes have recorded

England’s hospitals reported that a further 11 people had died with coronavirus in today’s NHS figures.

Patients were aged between 72 and 95 years old. All patients had known underlying health conditions.

Harrogate Borough Council is set to consult on three plots of land to be designated the Stray as part of a land swap to make way for the Otley Road Cycle Route.

The building of the cycle route means that verges classed as Stray land have to be removed. As part of the Stray Act, a suitable plot of land must be offered in exchange.

The council will now consult on the three areas of land before settling on one to exchange.

The three areas identified are:

• Wetherby Road land next to the war memorial (preferred option)
• St James Drive verges
• Arthurs Avenue verges

Senior councillors on the borough council’s cabinet are expected to approve the public consultation on Wednesday.

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council’s looks to press ahead with a multi-million cycle route on the stretch of road between Harlow Moor Road and Beech Grove.

Read more

• The agony of getting a single cycle route built in Harrogate
• 26 cyclists a year injured in collisions in Harrogate
• Cyclists groups must “remain realistic”, says county council

The scheme has been marred by delays and, with less than a mile of the route being built, the county council has been criticised over a “lack of ambition”.

Now, highways bosses will hope that the consultation will lead to a solution to its latest stumbling block and prevent any further setbacks.

The preferred area of land outlined in Harrogate Borough Council documents earmarked to be exchanged as part of the Otley Road cycle route.

Lengthy negotiations with the Duchy of Lancaster over the use of Stray land on the footpaths and verges between Cold Bath Road and Beech Grove delayed the second phase of the project from going ahead.

The borough council’s preferred option would see a plot of land behind Harrogate District Hospital which adjoins the end of Willaston Road offered in exchange.

While the land has a covenant which states that it is intended for recreational and open space, the council said it would not prevent it from being used as exchange land.

However, the Stray Defence Association (SDA) raised concern over the amenity value of the second and third options outlined by the council.

Judy D’Arcy Thompson from the SDA said:

“Land taken from the Stray to build roads, footpaths etc remains forever Stray land, belonging ultimately to the Crown.

“However, as everything on the surface of the Stray belongs to the people of Harrogate, any land utilised for any purpose must be given back to Harrogate’s people as ‘payback land and be of the same amenity value to them as their original Stray.

“What concerns us about the latest proposals from HBC and NYCC is just that. Of what ‘amenity value’ are the verges along Arthurs Avenue and St James Drive going to be for local people?

“Are people going to picnic there, sit and read a book there, play football, cricket, or any other game there? We think not. Therefore, what actual ‘amenity value’ does the land being offered have?”

Andy Barnsdale has taken over the helm of The DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel & Spa.

He is the top hotel’s new general manager and said that the hospitality sector is facing a “very tough” next 12 months.

The Majestic was just a week away from officially opening its new £2 million spa and wellness centre, called The Harrogate Spa before the coronavirus lockdown.

Read more:

• Rudding Park’s take on the chancellor’s hospitality boost
• When there was a rush to book nail appointments in Harrogate
• How 50 Harrogate sewers made 7,500 masks

That new project has still not been given the go ahead to open but, in the meantime, they have opened a new dining concept called Majestic Weekends.

It had remained open throughout the pandemic for key workers before it reopened to the general public on July 4.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel & Spa.

When Mr Barnsdale started his role 90% of the staff were on furlough but now they are bringing them back. He said:

“Thanks to the Cairn Group’s significant investment, The Majestic has regained its place as one of the finest hotels in the Harrogate District. Coronavirus has had a major impact on the hospitality sector, and we are facing a very tough 12 months. However, I believe we are well placed to pull through; we have a fantastic product and the Hilton brand is recognised and respected worldwide. Events and conferences are rebooking, and guests are coming back.”

Andy Barnsdale started his career in hospitality 25 years ago with Haven Holidays and over the next 11 years, he worked at six different holiday parks at general manager level before he moved onto hotels – namely Nidd Hall for six years.

The new civic centre constructed by Harrogate Borough Council cost the taxpayer at least £17m, The Stray Ferret can reveal. 

From its choice of an expensive round building to opting to use a highly valuable piece of land, the council wasted millions of pounds of public money. 

The council argued at the time that it offered value for money. Our investigation shows that, because the potential value of the land at Knapping Mount was never fully revealed, taxpayers were not given a true picture of the overall costs involved. 

Over the next few days, we will investigate: 

• A building which cost millions – but will be very difficult to sell 
• A site which could have been hugely valuable if sold 
• Other options dismissed as too expensive, but full details have never been revealed 
• A site put forward at the time which would have saved £7 million 
• Continuing concerns over issues including parking 
• The savings promised by the council would have been achieved on any other site 

The new civic centre at Knapping Mount

It is our belief that the council chose Knapping Mount because it wanted to create a landmark building in the town centre.  

Now, with a true picture of the costs, the taxpayer can decide: was the new civic centre worth it? 

How did it cost £17m?

The contract awarded to builder Harry Fairclough Ltd for the construction was worth £11.5m.  

The final bill has not been settled: the contractor – now in administration – believes the council should pay more, but HBC views £11.5m as the fixed cost. 

The Stray Ferret has conducted an investigation into the value of the land on which it was built. We believe that value is at least £4.5m.   

On top of that, almost £400,000 was spent on furniture. Total costs for flooring, IT infrastructure and other essential fittings have never been confirmed and could add even more to the cost.

A total spend of £865,000 was approved in 2013 for appointing a professional design team and for design, pre-planning and project costs. 

The unique round design of the new civic centre would have added a significant amount to the cost of the project. Experts have told The Stray Ferret that a curved design can add an average of 20% to the build cost. 

That all means that the total cost of the project was more than £17.2m. 

Read more on our investigation: 

• Expensive design choice as HBC sought to ‘express the nature of democracy’ 
• Better value option dismissed as council pursued town centre base 

Why was Knapping Mount so valuable?

Historically Knapping Mount was designated employment land because it had council offices on it.  

In 2014, though, the site had been earmarked for 52 homes in documents being prepared for the council’s Local Plan. That meant the land would have got planning permission for housing, and its value would have shot up. 

Yet, as it worked out the costs for its new civic centre, HBC chose not to explore this. It could have applied for formal planning permission and then had the land valued. Without this information it could move to Knapping Mount without having to be clear about capital it could have raised from the sale of the land.   

The Knapping Mount site, off Kings Road, before the new civic centre was built

A letter from Harrogate Civic Society to HBC in 2013 clearly shows the potential value was raised before any decision was made: 

“We have obviously had no access to confidential property reports but have concerns that only a boutique hotel use is mentioned for Crescent Gardens, no apparent appreciation of Scotsdale as apartments or Springfield House as a budget hotel in cooperation with Holiday Inn or appraisal of the fact that Knapping Mount and Brandreth House form the most valuable residential site in the Council portfolio.” 

In its own documents assessing the site, HBC said that building on Knapping Mount meant the loss of a “significant capital receipt” – but never went into detail about just how much that could have been.  

In a request under the Freedom of Information Act, The Stray Ferret discovered that the council last had the land valued at the end of 2017. That valuation was £1.83m – but it was no longer earmarked as housing land and the civic centre had already been built.  

Our question is: why didn’t the council properly value the land for housing before the move and make that value public? 

How did we get a figure of £4.5m for the land?

After talking to experts and making comparisons with sites nearby we have put a figure of £4.5m on the land. Throughout our investigation, we have sought expert opinion and always opted for a conservative estimate.  

The nearby Springfield Court, at the junction of Kings Road and Springfield Avenue, was sold in 2017 for £4.835m with permission to convert its offices into 35 two-bedroom apartments. That development now has an extra 26 flats being built taking the total number of apartments there to 61. 

Knapping Mount, which is twice that size, was earmarked for 52 dwellings in 2014. Those properties could have been either apartments or houses and a developer could have chosen, like Springfield Court, to build higher and apply for permission to add more flats. Of those, 40% would have been designated affordable housing, and the site is in a conservation area, both of which affect its value.  

With advice from local experts, we have conservatively put a figure of £4.5m on the land.  

While the council could argue this was not a cost because it already owned the land, the fact remains that they could have sold it and banked the cash. 

But that’s not all we have found. In the next of our series of reports, we show how an expensive design bumped up the cost – and how they could have done it all for millions less.

Next:

• Council chose expensive design to ‘express the nature of democracy’

The bespoke circular design of Harrogate Borough Council’s new civic centre could have cost taxpayers an extra £2m. 

Speaking to The Stray Ferret, several local architects and quantity surveyors have estimated that curved design adds anywhere between 15 and 35% to the cost of building. Conservatively, we have estimated 20% for the additional cost at Knapping Mount.

The contract with builders Harry Fairclough Ltd was awarded for £11.5m. Using the 20% uplift indicated by experts, a more conventional design for the same square footage could have come in closer to £9.5m. 

Not only that, but the unique design of the building has made it very difficult to extend compared to a rectangular building. 

What were the reasons for that choice? In its planning application, HBC rather grandly said: 

“The circular plan form derives from a number of influences including the desire to express the nature of democracy and local government through a circular debating room which is located at the centre of the building.” 

It talked about creating a ‘one council’ culture through working in one place, serving as a main civic hub for the district, and said the design was influenced by a need to offer “good value and careful use of public money”. 

Read more on this investigation:

• Exclusive: Stray Ferret investigation reveals true cost of new civic centre
• Council rejected business park option that would have saved £7m

Why are round buildings so expensive?

Architects who spoke to The Stray Ferret said there are several reasons why curved construction is a more expensive choice. 

Each aspect of the build becomes more complex, from inserting square objects such as doors into rounded walls, to joining walls together and ensuring a watertight finish. 

Then the furnishings come into play. Flooring for a circular room is more expensive because there is more waste, while specialist furniture is needed to make the most of the space – otherwise, standard furniture leaves awkward, unusable areas.

At Harrogate’s civic centre, an astonishing 27 CCTV cameras are in place to monitor all the building’s facets, compared to just three in the district’s public parks. 

An architect’s drawing of Harrogate’s new civic centre

Local specialists who spoke to The Stray Ferret said it is much harder to use space efficiently in a room with curved walls, leading to a larger square footage being required to accommodate the same number of staff as a rectangular building.

One expert described the civic centre’s design as “ludicrous”. He told The Stray Ferret that the new civic centre is so bespoke that it would be hard to adapt for another purpose, leaving question marks over its potential resale value if it is no longer needed.

In the third part of our investigation, we look at what other options were available to the council – and how much less it could have cost the taxpayer.

Next:

• The dismissed alternatives – including one which could have saved £7m

In the third part of our investigation into the cost of Harrogate Borough Council’s civic centre, we examine how the council has publicly justified the decisions it made – and that cheaper options were set aside in favour of a town centre location.  

HBC has always framed the new civic centre as offering good value to taxpayers. In this report, we will explore the way the council has justified the money it spent and reveal that another option it dismissed would have come in at around £7m less.  

How the council justified Knapping Mount

In 2014, before the decision to move was made, a Conservative campaign leaflet stated that £9m was the gross figure and, following sales, the council expected the project to cost £5m.  

Taken from a Conservative leaflet distributed to local households in 2014

The final sentence of Cllr Cooper’s quote is particularly interesting:

“This consultation takes the politics out of the argument and gives the full facts.”

It later emerged £11.5m was the value of the contract awarded to the builder.  

HBC said that was always the ‘gross’ cost. The ‘net’ cost was £11.5m minus the income it made from selling its other buildings.

The leaflet distributed by the ruling Conservative party says otherwise.

What did the council sell to fund the move?

In moving to Knapping Mount, Harrogate Borough Council sold the following properties: 

• Crescent Gardens – £4m 
• Scottsdale House – £1.9m 
• Victoria Park House – £1.2m 

The total receipts for those came to £7.1m.  So according to the council’s argument, Knapping Mount actually only cost £4.4m to the taxpayer.   

Yet the cost of any commercial project is always the cost of the build plus the value of the land. Regardless of what was sold, how it was funded or what they offset to make it look cheaper, HBC spent £11.5m on the build and used a site worth £4.5m. 

Using their own logic, the council could have sold Knapping Mount with planning permission for housing and added that money to the pot, giving an income of £11.6m.

The alternatives

At the outset of the project, HBC commissioned a report into the options available. As well as staying in its existing offices, it considered buildings and sites around Harrogate. 

However, the full details of those sites have never been released. A summary document was presented to the cabinet for consideration, referring to a number of sites and costs including: 

• Hornbeam Park – £11.3m 
• Beckwith Knowle – £9m or £17m 
• Pannal – £20.5m 

How these figures were calculated – and which specific sites or buildings they referred to – has never been revealed.  

What is evident from the report, however, is that, alongside its aim of bringing all staff onto one site, HBC was determined to maintain a town centre presence.  

The same report also recognised the high potential value of Knapping Mount, but HBC opted not to realise this. In recommending to build on the site, with an indicated cost of £13 to £13.7m, it says: 

“Retaining the site does mean the loss of a significant capital receipt.” 

Read more on this investigation:

• Exclusive: Stray Ferret investigation reveals true cost of new civic centre
• Council chose round design to ‘express nature of democracy’

£7m to stay in the town centre

Another site at Hornbeam Park was offered to the council in August 2014 – more than a year before work began at Knapping Mount – at a total cost in the region of £10.5m. Two hectares of land would have cost around £1.5m and a rectangular build of the same square footage as the civic centre would have been no more than £9m, even for a high-spec finish. 

We would like to make it clear that Chris Bentley, from Hornbeam Park Developments Ltd, is a supporter of The Stray Ferret but has no involvement in any editorial decisions taken by this publication. For more information, click here. All information given to us for this report was assessed and included on its own merits.

Costed up by the council at the time, the Hornbeam Park option was put at £11.9m. Though the details of this total cost have never been made public, the higher value could include an allowance for retaining and refurbishing one of the council’s town centre buildings. The report on the investigation into this option says it “prevents a single site solution” and, being out of the town centre, “results in requirement for additional town centre customer service centre”.  

The Hornbeam Park option only prevented a single-site solution because the council was absolutely determined that it needed to be in the town centre.  Although high quality, the simple rectangular design would have been cheaper. 

The council headquarters put forward at Hornbeam Park were rejected

An office on the business park could have placed HBC adjacent to a railway station, giving ease of access for anyone using public transport. A bus route had previously existed between Hornbeam Park and the town centre, which HBC could have reinstated.  

The proposal suggested up to 177 parking spaces – 82 more than the civic centre now has – for anyone travelling in a car. And the growing trend for working online means most residents will never have cause to visit the civic centre anyway, on foot or otherwise. 

Harrogate Borough Council itself said in a 2014 report that visitor numbers were expected to decline: 

“Visitor allocation is included within the proposals for the Knapping Mount site; this is currently shown as five spaces but could be increased by the redesignation of six of employee spaces at the side of the building. This allocation is being carefully monitored and visitor surveys will continue to take place as the council moves towards the new accommodation, this will be necessary as the visitor numbers could decrease due to the channel shift effect of more services being deliverable online or via telephone.” 

Was being so central really necessary? Serving a district of more than 500 square miles, was it essential for HBC to be located in Harrogate town centre?  

Using their logic and offsetting the income from the sale of all the sites, the council could have had £11.6m to put towards the new civic centre. At a cost of £10.5m, this would have left £1.1m in the bank.  

Tomorrow:

• Is Knapping Mount delivering on promised savings?
• The problem of car parking at the new civic centre

Read The Stray Ferret on Tuesday morning for the full story.

Almost 4 months after overcoming coronavirus, Vicky Snook from Harrogate (pictured right) says she still has days where she feels “completely wiped out.”

” Still now I have days where I can barely do anything at all and for a time I felt quite breathless at times… I would just have to go and have a lie-down, which is not like me at all. I have also been losing my hair, which has happened to one of my friends that had it too.  I lost a stone at the time… I have got that back but not my energy, unfortunately. I’m normally a very active person but It’s just the ongoing symptoms that are bizarre, but slowly the bad days are now getting less.

Vicky went to Cheltenham races in March and 4 days after she started to display symptoms of coronavirus:

“I was never admitted to hospital at the time, and actually I have had flu much worse.. If someone asked how ill i was at the time i would say a 2/10. I was just really exhausted and had a splitting headache. I was in bed for 8 days initially  then I started to feel a lot better and I thought I’d got off quite lightly, but the after-effects have been awful.”

Read more

• Harrogate hospital reports first coronavirus death in more than two weeks
• Council Leader: Some Harrogate businesses will not survive
• Harrogate care homes near 100 deaths

While the vast majority of those who contract Covid-19 will make a full recovery, there is increasing concern about a small but significant number of patients whose symptoms persist weeks and even months after first falling ill.

The NHS has now launched a tool to aid long term recovery.

“Your COVID Recovery” will be an online portal for people in England to access tutorials, contact healthcare workers and track their progress. The project will be rolled out in two phases, with the web portal launching later this month. It will only be accessible via a personal log-in and will be available to virus patients who had to be treated in hospital, as well as to those who managed their illness at home.

Later in the summer, tailored rehabilitation will also be offered to those who qualify, following an assessment.

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political column written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party:

Not too long ago, in the early days of Boris Johnson’s recovery from Covid, our chastened PM admitted that the width of his seat was a contributory factor to the severity of his brush with the dread virus.  Brought low by the bug, he ‘for one’, was going to lose weight, and, in so doing, provide an example to the rest of us.  Echoing his Tory forebear Stormin’ Norman Tebbit, Boris implored us to get on our bikes, this time for the worthy purpose of exercise, (and greener transport) rather than in pursuit of scarce work.  Heart healthy you might say, rather than heart-less.

This week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that he is going to be paying us (or, more accurately, paying the hospitality industry for us) to dine.  We have been asked to “eat out to help out,” this an eye-catching part of his £30b emergency stimulus package for our covid-ravaged economy.  Rish the Dish has found Dosh for Nosh; up to a discount limit of £10 per head.  This does of course mean that the world has officially gone mad; we can now boast a Conservative Government so interventionist it is promoting a basic bodily function.  Whatever next; red wine with fish? White jeans after November 1st? Where will it end?

To my mind however there are serious policy issues here: Obesity and public health; and the over-reliance of the UK economy on services (and particularly hospitality).  As a nation we rank 6^th in the global obesity rankings.  As such, obesity isn’t just a risk factor for covid symptom severity, it also costs the NHS almost £10b every year to treat its deleterious health effects.  I don’t blame people for being overweight, indeed, to my chagrin, I’m carrying a few extra pounds myself.  Nor do I accept that a focus on reducing obesity is, by definition, a class-based attack on those at the bottom end of the social scale, more often caught in possession of a high Body Mass Index than the rest of us.  We simply all have to get thinner, improve our health, avoid hospitals and leave the NHS free to treat serious illnesses, seasonal flu’s and future pandemics.

On the subject of food, Harrogate’s hospitality business owners let out a huge collective sigh of relief when allowed finally to open last weekend, albeit with social distancing regimens in place alongside ersatz “be wise, sanitise!” signs.  With fingers crossed tightly that we avoid a covid second wave, I for one hope that Harrogate’s residents feel able to turn out and support our local and independent hospitality businesses.  As with hospitality venues around the UK, venues in Harrogate are at risk, and the town can ill afford to lose them.  But as we move past covid response, we must build a newly diverse and resilient local economy, one in which the current over-reliance on hospitality is addressed directly in the council town plan.

The Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke said of being an MP that “your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serves you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”  And I agree with that.  It’s my belief that by creating a public discourse in which our MP’s are expected to act simply as a megaphone for local views (nothing enrages me more than to hear the lazy “what I hear on the doorstep is…”) we diminish the quality of our national politics and impose constraints and limits on our local politics.  As such we get the mediocre politics and politicians we deserve. Rather than thinking statesmen and woman of character in parliament, and outstanding municipal leaders closer to home, we get neither.  Instead, in our apathy, we must resign ourselves to obsequious lobby fodder in Westminster and to unchecked incompetence in our councils.  We should demand more of ourselves – intellectually and practically – and of our representatives.

To that end The Stray Ferret makes a point of reporting on the activities of our two local MPs, Andrew Jones in Harrogate and Julian Smith in Ripon.  In the month of June, for example, our parliamentary representatives voted against weekly covid testing for NHS staff members and voted against legal protections and the provision of help for migrant victims of domestic abuse.  But it’s so much less interesting to know how the MPs voted than it would be to know why they did so.

Try as we might, and we have asked repeatedly, we have yet to receive any explanation of why our MPs cast their vote in the manner they did.  Were they to engage with their electorate (you, me, us), whether directly, or through this and other media outlets, in order to explain their intellectual and principled positions, then two beneficial consequences would follow;  first, we would understand better the judgements they make in our name, and, second, we would support better the decisions they make in the face of our opinions.

Harrogate Council made a decision this week when it gave final approval to its overhaul of leisure service provision, with the opposition Lib Dems voting in favour.  Their 7 votes were secured because they tabled successful amendments to the motion supporting “affordable pricing, accountability and worker’s rights.”  Who can argue with that?  And I’m all in favour of constructive opposition and pragmatism, however, as a matter of bald politics, the Lib Dems always seem to get it wrong.  Come the reckoning Councillor Pat Marsh and her well-meaning team will not be able to say that they took a position of principle – against the privatisation of the leisure we should all be encouraged to take more of for the sake both of our waistlines and long-term health – and fought it to the last.  Instead they will be complicit in Harrogate Council’s decision to place leisure provision at arms-length, as the expression makes plain, away from the body and beating heart of government where it ought to be.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More:

• Council takes final vote to over-haul leisure services 
• Council leader says race comments by parish councillor are “deplorable”

Do you have anything you want to say to Paul or think there is a specific subject he should be writing about?

You can get in touch at paul@thestrayferret.co.uk

A 14-year-old from Harrogate, who hopes to become a professional racing car driver, says he can’t compete against the best in the field because of a lack of funding.

Jacob Heap, who is currently studying for his GCSE’s has been racing since he was 8. However, his hobby comes at a large price and, despite his recent successes, his family is struggling to keep up with the rising costs.

Jacob recently achieved 3rd place at the Junior Saloon Car Championship but just missed out on winning a fully funded season. Last October he entered the Ginetta Scholarship but again missed out due to not having the funds to practice and take part in the media day.

Jacob pictured in the JSCC Teenage Cancer Trust car.

Jacob currently sends between forty and fifty sponsorship proposals a day to try and get funding. He told The Stray Ferret:

“This is all I want to do. Obviously companies don’t have as much money at the moment so aren’t as open to sponsorship. It’s just really hard to get your name out there.”

Read more: 

• You can now hire low emission cars in Harrogate 
• Harrogate Town fans send cut outs to games 

Jacob’s dad has been working extra jobs on an evening and at the weekend to pay for his son’s racing but says it is getting too expensive and is desperate for sponsorship. He told The Stray Ferret:

“This is what he wants to do, it’s not just a bit of fun. He is so determined but he needs £10,000 for a years racing.”

During lockdown, Jacob has been keeping his fitness up by cycling up to 10 miles every morning during his paper round as well as doing weights and extra cardio.

Pupils and staff from Ashville College in Harrogate have been joined by a number of sportsmen and women during an online Q&A sessions.

Director of Sport at Ashville College, Dominic Bradburne, organised talks with athletes from the world of cricket, hockey, netball and rugby. Pupils then had the opportunity to ask questions about their careers.

The live sessions began with Worcestershire County Cricket Club players Ed Barnard and Pat Brown. They were followed by Bath Rugby Union players Joe Cokanasiga and Zach Mercer.

Read more: 

• St Aidan’s put forward new proposal for 3G football pitch 
• Harrogate Town await playoffs for club promotion

The students also had the opportunity to speak to England hockey players Ollie Payne and Nick Park as well as former England Netball international Anna Carter.

Nick Park currently plays hockey for England.

Director of Sport Dominic Bradburne said:

“I’d like to thank all of the sportsmen and sportswomen for participating in our question and answer sessions. The aim of the evenings is for the audience…to find out about the individuals, their careers, early influences, training programmes and future aspirations.”

He acknowledged that video conferencing is the new normal and hopes to carry on the sessions on a regular basis.