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11
Mar 2023
‘An absolute nonsense’: Ripon’s £85,000 regeneration plan thrown into doubt
A Ripon councillor has strongly criticised Harrogate Borough Council after an officer confirmed a report costing £85,000 that was supposed to present a new vision for Ripon city centre remains unfinished — over two-and-a-half years since it was first announced.
At a meeting of the Skipton and Ripon area constituency committee yesterday in Skipton, officers at North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council spoke to councillors about the economic opportunities for Ripon ahead of the new council forming on April 1.
But it was the current status of the Ripon Renewal Project masterplan that Ripon councillors Andrew Williams and Barbara Brodigan were seeking answers to.
Harrogate Borough Council awarded a contract to Bauman Lyons Architects in 2020 to draw up a vision for the future of the city.
The company was tasked with producing funding options and a business case for Ripon to bid for money for regeneration projects.
A consultation was held in 2021 when residents, businesses and community groups highlighted problems in the city. These included not enough things for young people to do, traffic in the market place and a lack of affordable housing.
However, publication of the document has been beset by delays, which led Cllr Brodigan to accuse the council of letting it “gather dust” at an office in Harrogate.
Ripon City Council and Ripon BID have submitted freedom of information requests to HBC in an attempt to find out what has been produced.
The project is being co-funded by North Yorkshire County Council and the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
‘No draft masterplan’
The borough council's acting head of place-shaping and economic growth Linda Marfitt told councillors the project was initially delayed due to the consultation exercises taking longer than expected.
She said the council then tried to extend the contract with the architect but were not able to come to an agreement so had to “bring the commission to a close”.
Read more:
- Harrogate council spends £45,000 on outside help for failed Levelling Up bid
- Harrogate council pays out almost £20,000 in compensation to tenants due to damp
- Ripon regeneration plans ‘paused’ amid contract talks
Ms Marfitt said despite the council not being in possession of a draft masterplan, officers have looked at what work has been done so far and will present a summary to councillors next week.
She added around £55,000 of the £85,000 that was earmarked had been spent.
Ms Marfitt said:
It was a response that exacerbated Andrew Williams, independent councillor for Ripon Minster & Moorside and the leader of Ripon City Council.
He said:
A spokesperson for Bauman Lyons Architects issued the following statement:
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