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13
Aug 2022
Fears for Harrogate Convention Centre if new Leeds venue goes ahead
Senior figures in Harrogate are angry with plans to build a multi-use conference centre in Leeds, as they fear it could drive business away from the North Yorkshire town.
Provisional plans to build an events space on the doorstep of Leeds Arena were discussed at a meeting by the city's councillors on Thursday.
But Harrogate Convention Centre, Destination Harrogate and the town's Crown Hotel have all come out against the scheme.
Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) are also objecting.
An independent study commissioned by Leeds City Council suggested the impact on Harrogate Convention Centre would be minimal.
That is hotly disputed by the objectors.
Speaking to Leeds councillors at Thursday's meeting, Paula Lorimer, centre director at the convention centre, said the study was "flawed, inaccurate, out-of-date and in some areas totally wrong".
She claimed it had under-estimated the adverse impact on the centre itself by around "50 per cent" and relied on out of date figures.
Ms Lorimer also said there was upset in Harrogate over an "absence of dialogue" from Leeds City Council about the scheme. She claimed she'd only found out about the plans at the end of last week - just four days before they were due to potentially be approved in principle.
She told councillors:
Read more:
- Harrogate Convention Centre to face competition from Leeds events venue
- Harrogate Convention Centre ‘could lose £250 million without investment'
The meeting was told that Harrogate Borough Council's chief executive and Ms Lorimer had been made aware of the original plans last year, but that no response had been forthcoming.
But Ms Lorimer said that the proposed centre was now a third bigger in size than had been originally touted last year.
If approved, the venue would be built on land vacated by the planned demolition of the old Yorkshire Bank HQ on Clay Pit Lane, which is now redundant.
Two blocks of student flats would also flank the venue on either side. That aspect of the development is less controversial with the Harrogate objectors having stated they're not opposed to that.
Councillors voted to defer the application until next month before making a decision.
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