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Mar 2020

Last Updated: 16/03/2020

Politics

Council disputes Civic Centre costs

by Vicky Carr

| 16 Mar, 2020

Harrogate Borough Council says the £11.5m build cost of the Civic Centre is not a true picture of the cost of the project.

The civic centre at Knapping Mount.

Harrogate Borough Council says the £11.5m build cost of the Civic Centre is not a true picture of the cost of the project

Reacting to a Stray Ferret exclusive on Friday, the Council argues the overall cost was lower because of money received in the sale of its other premises.

Harrogate Borough Council argued that the £11.5m reported as the final build cost by The Stray Ferret did not reflect the overall cost of the new council offices at Knapping Mount.

The figure of £11.5m for building the Civic Centre was obtained by a Freedom of Information request made by The Stray Ferret. The Stray Ferret asked: What was the final cost to Harrogate Borough Council of building its new Civic Centre at St Luke's Avenue?

Its FOI response said:

“Final account negotiations were ongoing between the Council and Harry Fairclough prior to Harry Fairclough entering into administration. The Council’s view of the gross valuation of the final account sum for the building contract is £11,516,200.”

The council said that the figure it released as part of the FOI may change as it continues to negotiate costs with the construction firm, Harry Fairclough Ltd, which has gone into administration.

It also said that the £11.5m figure to build its new offices did not take into account the fact that millions of pounds was generated through the sale of its other council department buildings to fund the move—these included the sale of Victoria Park House, Scottsdale House, Springfield House and Crescent Gardens. It also argued that moving staff onto one site would result in savings of £1m a year on overheads.

The council said the £11m figure was always in the public domain. However, in a leaflet distributed by the ruling Conservative party in 2014 during a consultation about the planned build at Knapping Mount, the £8.7m was reported as a gross figure, with the sale of the offices to be deducted from this:

The council had refused to confirm the cost in response to previous FOI requests, citing commercial sensitivity. Having now been released, the numbers are still confusing for residents of the district.

The Stray Ferret requested the information in the FOI as part of a detailed look into the net cost of the move to Knapping Mount, the sale of its former offices and whether or not the council has met its original stated objectives for the whole project.

A full report of our findings will be published once complete.