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07
Sept 2022
Council explores move to protect Harrogate Convention Centre with limited company status
Harrogate Convention Centre could come under the control of a limited company as part of a potential bid by the borough council to protect its most prized asset.
With the abolition of Harrogate Borough Council fast approaching, the convention centre is set to be handed over to the new North Yorkshire Council next April as the venue also pushes ahead with plans for a £49 million redevelopment in the face of growing competition.
But borough council bosses have this week revealed they are working with consultants on new models for how the venue could be run.
This includes the possibility of creating a limited company which would be run by a board of directors, including senior staff and councillors, although it would still be owned and funded by the new North Yorkshire Council.
Paula Lorimer, director of Harrogate Convention Centre, told a meeting on Monday that events venues in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow operate in this way and that this “would be my recommendation”.
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Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, also said the convention centre could follow the “success” of the district’s leisure centres which were brought under the control of the council’s new leisure company Brimhams Active last year. He said:
Mr Sampson also stressed that the council was looking into a variety of different business models for the convention centre and that this work with consultants KPMG “hasn’t concluded yet”.
As well as Brimhams Active, the council’s tourism company Destination Harrogate is also set to be handed over to the new North Yorkshire Council.
But what will happen to the companies after this major change for local government in seven months’ time remains unclear as council staff continue to plan how all services across North Yorkshire should be run in the future.
Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, said she was worried that decisions about the convention centre “won’t be in our hands” without a limited company and that she had seen the benefits that such a move could bring as a board member on Brimhams Active. She said:
The proposed £49 million redevelopment of the convention centre recently moved to the next design stage – although a final decision on the major plans is still just under a year away.
It will be in July or August next year when that decision is made and because of local government reorganisation, it will be taken by the new North Yorkshire Council.
The proposals come after warnings that the venue “may fail to survive” and suffer losses of up to £250 million over the next 40 years unless the redevelopment is carried out.
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