Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
13
Mar
Company behind bid to bring cheap energy to Harrogate enters liquidation
A company tasked with drawing up a study for a Harrogate heating network is to be placed into liquidation.
Harrogate Town Council appointed Sheffield-based Tomson Consulting Ltd to carry out a feasibility study at a cost of £34,943 in January.
A district heating network connects users to a central heating source via insulated pipes underground.
The town council secured grant funding from the government’s Great British Energy Community Fund to embark on a plan to deliver cheaper energy, with the more deprived areas of Jennyfields, Bilton and Fairfax identified as the first areas to benefit.
At the time, Cllr Chris Aldred, Mayor of Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret that the scheme would be exciting for the town.
However, in a report due before a full council meeting on March 18, Iona Taylor, clerk at the council, said Tomson Consulting was being placed into liquidation following “trading and cashflow difficulties”.
A map showing the three priority areas for the scheme.
Ms Taylor confirmed that the town council had paid the company a single payment of £3,079 plus VAT and was in “in possession of the output of the initial phase of work”.
She added:
This [the work] concentrated on stakeholder engagement and, due to the creation of a sharepoint location owned and controlled by Harrogate Town Council, the majority of project documentation to date is in the council’s control.
Town councillors will be asked on Wednesday to agree to terminate the council’s arrangement with Tomson Consulting.
Phoenix company
Ms Taylor said in a report that the director of the company will be “phoenixing to continue to trade through a new company” and has indicated a desire to complete the work on a feasibility assessment for the heating network.
The new company is called Growing Yorkshire Ltd, which trades as FFT Consulting, and has quoted £31,864 to complete the work.
Ms Taylor said the appointment of the new firm would “cause the least delays” with work needing to be complete by the end of 2026 — as set by the grant funder.
However, she added:
Members should be cognisant of any adverse public perception arising from entering a contract with a company which is the result of a phoenixing arrangement.
At the full council meeting, councillors will be asked whether they want to appoint FFT Consulting to continue the work or if they want to approach other companies which came forward during the contract tender process last year.
Meanwhile, a third option to re-tender the contract for the project is also listed in the report.
Councillors will meet to discuss the options at a full council meeting at Harrogate Civic Centre on Wednesday (March 18).
0