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30
Dec 2022
No.11: Investigations reveal council payments - and a secret Twitter account
In this article, which is part of a series on the 12 stories in the Harrogate district that shaped 2022, we look back at the significant news broken by the Stray Ferret as part of our commitment to hold those in control of public money to account.
Throughout 2022, the Stray Ferret has continued to report on stories affecting readers across the Harrogate district.
From revealing the latest planning applications for major developments to recording cases going through local courts, we have ensured matters of public record are shared with our readers.
Among our most-read stories this year was the live blog delivering the results from the elections to the new North Yorkshire Council. It was a significant day for the Harrogate district, with the Conservatives' hold on power slipping in favour of the Liberal Democrats, who won 10 seats in the area to the Tories' nine, along with one Green and an independent.
Across the county, the Conservatives' majority slipped to just four, having previously secured 76% of the vote at the last county-wide election.
Investigations
Next year, Harrogate Borough Council will be no more as a new unitary authority comes into effect on April 1, but in its final days, it is still being held to account by our journalists.
This autumn, we revealed the results of a two-year investigation into the identity of the person behind an anonymous Twitter account.
As @ChippyGlory, parking enforcement manager Steve Rogers had been posting abusive, misogynistic and obscene messages. He targeted high-profile people, including the then-Prime Minister's wife, Carrie Johnson, as well as local individuals.
Among his victims was Cllr Matthew Webber, who said he was offended by what Mr Rogers had posted about him and would be contacting the chief executive about the way the council had been brought into disrepute by the tweets.
Read more:
- What now for Harrogate Convention Centre after investment zones dropped?
- £540m North Yorkshire devolution deal looks set to progress, say officials
Mr Rogers apologised, and resigned later that week, though not before another row began.
After Liberal Democrat leader Pat Marsh called publicly for Mr Rogers to be dismissed, Conservative council leader Richard Cooper sent an email to all councillors calling for an apology - from Cllr Webber, for following Twitter accounts which were insulting towards Cllr Cooper.
Cllr Cooper wrote:
The council leader also copied the email to Mr Rogers, "for transparency's sake", and to chief executive Wallace Sampson.
Cllr Richard Cooper and Wallace Sampson
Mr Sampson was then forced to issue an instruction to all councillors to remain silent on the issue. He told them:
Contracts
This year, the Stray Ferret also reported on major contracts awarded by both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.
In January, a request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that HBC had paid Bristol-based travel blogger Heather Cowper £700 plus VAT to promote its Christmas offerings.
Gemma Rio, the head of the council's tourism marketing body Destination Harrogate, defended the spend, saying:
However, the project led to a further clash between councillors and the chief executive after Cllr Matthew Webber publicly criticised what he saw as an "appalling waste of money". Mr Sampson said Cllr Webber's comment had caused "a great deal of hurt" to council staff.
Harrogate Spring Water
After a two-year fight, the Stray Ferret finally obtained details of how much income Harrogate Borough Council receives from Harrogate Spring Water.
As well as its £13,000 ground rent per annum, the authority receives a percentage of annual turnover from the business - but it had refused to reveal how much this amounted to after requests from this website.
An appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office led to the authority being told to reconsider its decision - and the numbers were finally revealed.
Since 2017, HBC has received almost £500,000 from Harrogate Spring Water.
Harrogate Spring Water, Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate.
Meanwhile, a further request under the Freedom of Information Act showed that HBC had told the water company it would consider selling Rotary Wood - the piece of land controversially earmarked for expansion of the bottling plant.
And in October, we revealed that Harrogate Spring Water had been given permission to test water in a borehole at HBC's Harlow Hill nursery, which is currently allocated for a new housing development.
The company said the results "weren't what [it was] looking for" but it continued to try to understand the local groundwater in more detail.
The latest plans to expand the bottling plant were said to be being "finalised" in September but have not yet been submitted to the council.
In Ripon, an £85,000 contract looking at the renewal of the city centre was paused in August, more than a year after it was announced.
Bauman Lyons Architects had been commissioned in February 2021 to draw up plans to create a vision for the city, which would help it to win funding for infrastructure, planning and community projects.
However, the one-year deadline for the project was missed and, in August, HBC's director of economy and culture Trevor Watson admitted he did not know when it would be finished. He said it was the council's "intention" that it would conclude before HBC is abolished in April 2023.
Kex Gill
Meanwhile, at NYCC, a contract worth more than £50m was awarded to Irish firm John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd for work on the rerouting of the A59 at Kex Gill.
The total amount allocated to the project now stands at £68.8m along with an £11m contingency for bad weather and ground conditions - but work has been delayed until early 2023 and is expected to take more than two years.
Also this year, a £5m contract was awarded to four national consultancy firms as part of the process of transferring to the new unitary authority.
KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PA Consulting Ltd and Capita Business Service Ltd were all contracted to support the reorganisation - but the move came under fire from both independents and Liberal Democrats, who questioned why the expertise of council officers could not be used.
In November, NYCC commissioned London-based Steer-ED to draw up a strategy for economic growth in North Yorkshire, with a contract worth almost £90,000.
An Oxfordshire company was awarded £200,000 to oversee a review of junctions relating to house building in the west of Harrogate. NYCC selected RPS Consulting Services Ltd to oversee the work, part of the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy, building on the West Harrogate Parameters Plan.
And finally, this year the Stray Ferret continued to monitor the long saga of Harrogate Convention Centre and plans for its refurbishment to the tune of £49m.
The proposal was first publicised more than two years ago but devolution, changes to government policies and shifting goalposts for potential sources of funding have all played a part in its slow progress.
A steering group, consisting of officials from both HBC and NYCC, has been set up to decide how the centre should be run in future and how to fund investment.
The Stray Ferret will continue to report on the way public money is spent across the Harrogate district in what is set to be a year of significant change.
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