North Yorkshire Council is expected to approve an additional £2 million funding this week for a project to upgrade Harrogate Convention Centre before work has even begun.

If it does, it will become the latest North Yorkshire Council project in the Harrogate district to be hit by escalating costs.

The upgrade to studio 2 is now predicted to cost £9.4 million — a rise from £7.1 million when it was initially proposed. The council puts this rise down to inflation and the contract tender process.

The increase in the project cost will ultimately fall on taxpayers.

Here, the Stray Ferret looks at four other Harrogate district projects which have gone beyond the estimated cost.

1. Kex Gill - £82.5 million

Perhaps the biggest example of soaring costs when it comes to council projects is the A59 Kex Gill realignment.

The ongoing project to realign four kilometres of the landslip-prone route between Harrogate and Skipton is the biggest capital spending project ever undertaken by the council.

The scheme was initially estimated to cost £68.8 million.

The figure included the Department for Transport contributing £56.1 million and the council shouldering the remaining £12.7 million.

However, in May 2025, the Stray Ferret revealed that the cost of the project had soared by £13.7 million due to compensation claims and extra contingency funds.

Councillor Keane Duncan, the council’s Conservative executive member for highways at the time, blamed “bad luck on our part and bad management on the part of central government” due to the late award of funding from the Department for Transport. 

However, a spokesperson for the department said such claims were untrue and unfounded.

The new road is due to open in June.

2. Otley Road cycle path - £2.2 million

Five years ago, a new cycle route on Otley Road was set to get underway.

The first phase of the scheme was planned to run from Harlow Moor Road to Cold Bath Road.

In 2021, the council awarded PBS Construction, which is based in Hull, a £827,000 contract to build the first instalment of the cycle path.

The much-criticised route opened in January 2022, but subsequent remedial work and design fees for phase two of the project increased the cost significantly.

The Stray Ferret revealed in February 2023 that the cost of the cycleway had risen to £2.2 million and that the second phase of the route had been scrapped.

At the time, Councillor Keane Duncan, the Conservative executive member for highways and transportation at the then North Yorkshire County Council, said phase two had been dropped because it lacked public support.

However, extending the cycle path appears to be back on the cards.

The council revealed last week it intended to allocate £3.36 million towards four transport projects in the Harrogate district, two of which include the Otley Road cycle route.

3. Ripon Leisure Centre - £23 million

In September 2025, a new leisure centre in Ripon opened to much fanfare.

Diver Jack Laugher, the city’s own Olympian, opened the site - which was named Active North Yorkshire Ripon - The Jack Laugher Centre.

But, what was not included in the council’s own publicity at the time was that the centre had taken six years to build and was £13 million over budget.

Construction started in 2019, but was plagued with problems.

The refurbishment halted when a sinkhole was discovered at the site, which required major groundworks to be carried out.

The original budget for the entire project, set by the now-defunct Harrogate Borough Council, was £10.2 million. The scheme was expected to be completed within just 17 months.

However, six years on the budget increased to £23 million.

4. Harrogate Station Gateway - £14.6 million

Spades have yet to hit the ground on Harrogate’s Station Gateway scheme — yet it has increased in cost.

The project has been hailed by some senior North Yorkshire councillors as the biggest transformation of Harrogate town centre in 30 years.

It was originally forecast to cost £7.9 million.

But, despite being de-scoped and losing some of its main elements such as pedestrianising part of James Street, the overall figure rose to £14.6 million in July 2025.

The council has been caught up in a lengthy legal dispute with anti-gateway campaigners, the Get Away group, which is part of the reason that construction has not started on the scheme.

This week, the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge from campaigners against the scheme. However, it is unclear at this stage if this will pave the way for construction to start.