Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
13
Apr
Ripon Town Hall transfer could 'revitalise the centre of this historic city'
Ripon City Council looks set to regain control of the city’s town hall after plans for the transfer have been recommended for approval.
North Yorkshire Council currently controls the grade-two listed building in the heart of Ripon.
It has not been run by Riponians since Ripon City Council lost control of the building to Harrogate Borough Council following local government reorganisation in 1974.
But that looks set to change as part of a 'double devolution' deal agreed between North Yorkshire Council and Ripon City Council.
Ripon city councillors unanimously voted to support the deal in principle at a meeting in February.
Now the deal is due to be considered by North Yorkshire Council’s executive next week.
A report published ahead of the meeting says the city council wants to “invest time and money into creating a central hub for both the local community and visitors contributing to the revitalisation of the city centre”.
A business plan to consider future uses has yet to be put together, but the council chamber could become a venue for weddings and events, and unused spaces could be opened up for community use.
The rear view from the garden.
Under the terms of the transfer, Ripon City Council will be given a 99-year lease on the town hall with a peppercorn rent of just £1 a year.
North Yorkshire Council will continue to pay business rates for 2026/27 and will give the city council £55,000 in initial funding.
The city council can surrender the lease at 12 months’ notice but North Yorkshire Council cannot break the lease. Ripon City council can also request the freehold of the town hall at any time.
North Yorkshire Council said in the report it would reserve some rights, such as running the Tourist Information Centre from the building rent free.
The town hall's existing tenants, including Ripon and District Amateur Radio Society, would “continue to be accommodated” should the transfer come to fruition, the council said.
North Yorkshire Council’s deputy leader and executive member for finance and resources, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said: “By handing over responsibility for Ripon Town Hall to the city council there is an opportunity for the building to once again become a focal point for both residents and tourists and in turn help to revitalise the centre of this historic city.”
Market value
According to the council report, the market value of the town hall has been assessed at £652,000.
However, the report says, this is based on the assumption “that the upper and basement floors could be converted to residential, with a commercial use on the ground floor”.
It adds:
On the basis of a refurbishment and use as offices the value was assessed at £440,000. The annual rental value of the property for a hypothetical short-term lease and the landlord retaining responsibility for external and structural repairs has been assessed at approximately £39,500 per annum, assuming vacant possession and that some initial works would be required.
The value of the property for National Non-Domestic Rating [business rates] purposes, as identified on the Valuation Office Agency website, is the sum of £24,750 (effective 1st April 2023).
The transfer has been recommended for approval by the executive on April 21.
What is double devolution?
Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, pledged to introduced double devolution as part of the 2023 local government shake-up that saw Harrogate Borough Council abolished.
Cllr Les invited parish councils to submit bids outlining which local assets they wanted to acquire.
The only deal agreed previously was Knaresborough’s Town Council’s bid to take control of the town market.
Ripon City Council’s double devolution bid, which did not include taking on its market, is the most ambitious submitted to North Yorkshire Council so far.
The Wakeman’s House and Hugh Ripley Hall in Ripon are also expected to be handed back to the city council, as previously reported by the Stray Ferret, but the report does not include details of a deal relating to those properties.
However, it does suggest those asseet transfers will be dealt with separately later.
Due to the complexity of the proposals, it was agreed that rather than consider the proposal and assets as a whole, to now consider each asset individually via a community asset transfer, the first being Ripon Town Hall. This approach was agreed by RCC and at a meeting of Full Council on July 7, 2025.
0