North Yorkshire Council will deploy staff at Harrogate Borough Council’s Civic Centre, its chief executive has confirmed.
The Civic Centre at St Luke’s Avenue opened in December 2017 after HBC sold its offices in Harrogate, including Crescent Gardens for £4m, to help fund the move.
HBC said the move would lead to savings of £1m a year due to reduced maintenance and energy costs.
But with the impending abolition of the authority, there has been a question mark over what would happen to the building.
All of Harrogate Borough Council’s staff, except chief executive Wallace Sampson who is set to receive a redundancy package worth £101,274, will transfer over to the new authority on April 1.
North Yorkshire County Council chief executive Richard Flinton, who will become the boss of the new council, told business leaders in Harrogate last night that the new authority “has no intention of sucking people into a ‘super HQ’ based at County Hall (In Northallerton)”.
He was speaking at a Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting at Rudding Park alongside Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of NYCC and future leader of the new authority.
Mr Flinton said:
“We want a main office in every district area, We will be keeping the new office building in Harrogate and basing staff there. All the planners, development and housing people — all the main people that businesses and the public need to engage with — will be based in Harrogate.”
There had been concerns that, through the devolution process, the newly-built, bespoke council headquarters would no longer be needed as services were centralised across North Yorkshire.
The project was initially forecast to cost in the region of £9m, with £4m of that paid for by the sale of its other buildings. A contract of £11.5m was awarded to construction firm Harry Fairclough Ltd which has since gone into administration
HBC has since said the overall cost of the civic centre was £13.1m. However, an investigation by the Stray Ferret revealed the actual cost, including the value of the land which had not been included by the council, was in fact at least £17m.
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Mr Flinton last night said preparations are ongoing to ensure a smooth transition from April 1. He compared the situation to the new millennium in 2000 when there were fears that technology would stop working when the clock struck midnight.
He said he wants local government reorganisation “to be the new millennium bug”.
“There was hype, worries and concern then it was a damp squib. There’s a million and one concerns but I hope it’s a millennium bug scenario and services are enjoyed by residents as they continue to be now.”
He added:
“There will be a lot of lifting and shifting of teams from the districts to the new unitary. That restructuring will carry on for the next year or so. Bear with us through that period.”
