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17
Jul 2020
Lancashire Stray contractors referred to as 'local suppliers'
New documents show that Harrogate Borough Council referred to contractors tasked with restoring the Stray as a “local supplier”, despite being based in Lancashire.
Borough council officials awarded Glendale Services the contract for the Stray back in April - seven months after the UCI World Cycling Championships.
As revealed by the Stray Ferret in May, the contract, worth an estimated £40,926.29, was handed to the company under “urgent circumstances”.
Now, local Liberal Democrat councillors have criticised the council for “denying the opportunity” to local firms to tender for the work.
A previously exempt document before the council’s cabinet member for environment on May 29 stated that the authority had “engaged with a local supplier” to carry out the works.
Read more:
- UCI Championship organisers to pay towards Stray cost
- Why bring in Lancashire contractors to restore the Stray?
- Council Stray repairs contract given under ‘urgent circumstances’
Glendale Services, which is based 65 miles away in Chorley, began work on site which was met with fierce criticism from local suppliers. At the time, Mark Smith, managing director of local contractor HACS, said he was "disgusted" with the decision.
Geoff Webber, Liberal Democrat councillor on North Yorkshire County Council, said he was disappointed that the contract did not go out to tender:
He said:
Glendale has carried out groundworks elsewhere in Yorkshire, including at Kirklees College in Huddersfield.
But senior councillors have insisted that the company has offices in the county.
Cllr Andrew Paraskos, cabinet member for environment at the authority, told a full council meeting last week that the council had to bring in a contractor because the authority did not have the equipment to do it in-house.
It comes as the council expects the overall works to the Stray to cost £129,971:
- £38,105 for repairs to grassed areas of West Park Stray
- £65,385 for pavement, footpaths, Heras fencing, bedding and verge repairs, reinstatement of bins and benches plus any additional council work
- £20,156 to fix longstanding drainage issues
- £6,325 project management and delivery costs
Yorkshire 2019, the organisers of the UCI, has agreed to pay £35,500 to help restore the Stray.
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