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14
Jul 2020
Has Harrogate's £17m civic centre met its aims?
Despite spending millions, Harrogate Borough Council still faces problems with its new civic centre.
The amount of parking on offer has been controversial from the outset and results in staff having to park elsewhere – taking up valuable commercial spaces and clogging residential streets.
While HBC argued its move to the new civic centre would save £1m a year, this would have been true no matter which site the council chose for its new headquarters.
The building itself has no mayor’s parlour for civic occasions, a choice which was queried by groups including Harrogate Civic Society, leaving nowhere to host visitors.
The council also made the move knowing that changes could lie ahead for local government, with the future shape of local government in North Yorkshire being debated at the time. Now, with HBC having only been in the civic centre for two years, even the existence of district councils is up for debate as North Yorkshire prepares for devolution.
Why is parking a problem?
From the outset, the amount of parking was controversial.
- Previously, 266 spaces were available across HBC’s five sites
- Knapping Mount has just 95 spaces for staff and visitors
- 561 staff are based there (though not all are there five days a week)
As a result, the council is using spaces at the nearby Harrogate Convention Centre as overflow parking. In its plans for using up to 130 of these spaces, HBC acknowledged that it could result in a reduction in the £150,000 annual income from the public using the HCC car park
When events are held, staff can park free in the Victoria multi-storey car park, using permits issued by HBC.
- Usual cost of £11.70 for nine hours
- Annual parking pass costs a member of the public £1,512
- 786 parking spaces available
- 698 parking passes have been issued to staff
While it is unlikely they would all be used at the same time for the full day, there is no limit on how many spaces in the Victoria Car Park can be taken up by council staff.
Not only does this mean that staff are being given free parking in a prime spot for shoppers who could be supporting local businesses, but it also limits the potential income for the council from parking spaces.
A report to HBC’s cabinet in November 2014, before building work began at Knapping Mount, rejected the multi-storey car park as an option. It said:
However, staff are now given passes for that car park when the convention centre is in use. If they do, as predicted, feel it is too far, the only option left to staff who drive is to park on surrounding streets.
North Yorkshire County Council, which looks after on-street parking, warned during the planning process that it would have to enforce residents’ parking zones if neighbouring streets became congested. It said it would review the situation annually for five years after the new civic centre was occupied, in December 2017.
The county council told The Stray Ferret it was working with HBC to monitor the situation, but follow-up surveys to its initial report have not been possible during the pandemic and would not give a representative picture of normal working days. Allan McVeigh, NYCC's head of network strategy, said:
The full report will be published on HBC's website once finalised.
Read more:
- The Stray Ferret reveals the civic centre cost taxpayers £17m
- Expensive design choices as council sought to 'express nature of democracy'
- The alternative site that could have saved £7m
What savings have been made?
An ambitious savings target of £1m per year was set by HBC when it planned its new civic centre, which the ruling Conservative party said would mean the £5m spend would pay for itself in five years.
In its 2019 annual report, HBC said:
According to the council, this is made up of:
- Senior management review - £269,000
- Running costs - £265,000
- Facilities management and support services - £134,000
- Reduction in annual provision for print equipment replacement - £13,500
- ICT - £227,000
- TOTAL - £908,500
The same could have been achieved by a move to any modern building. Knapping Mount did not have to be chosen in order to reduce staff numbers and streamline IT.
A move to any single site would have delivered the same results – so a site and build which cost millions less would have paid for itself much sooner.
If the new civic centre is no longer needed
When the public consultation over the Knapping Mount proposal was held in 2015, concerns were raised about future changes to local government.
At the time, Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce said a potential move to a unitary authority in the coming years could mean Harrogate no longer has a council, being replaced by a single authority for the whole county.
The chamber argued that the decision over a new office should be delayed until the future of local government was clearer. However, HBC’s response at the time was that, should a move to unitary authority be made, a new civic centre would put Harrogate in an ideal position to become its headquarters.
Even with that level of uncertainty, HBC chose to spend millions on a new headquarters. Its five offices could have lasted a few more years until the future of local government had been confirmed.
If it had deemed the move essential at the time, a more traditional building design would have been pragmatic: the council could have extended or sold the building, or even leased part of it to a commercial tenant, if its needs changed.
As it is, one local expert told The Stray Ferret that the council’s choice of a round building has restricted its adaptability for re-use or sale in future, meaning it is less valuable than it might have been.
Five years later, the issue of changes to local government is still being debated. North Yorkshire County Council leader Carl Les told The Stray Ferret last week that discussions are still being held about forming a combined authority for North Yorkshire – and Unison has issued a statement raising concerns about the situation.
The future of local government in Harrogate is still uncertain - meaning the new civic centre may no longer be required just a few years after it was built.
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