Harrogate Borough Council has appointed Somerset company Alliance Leisure to develop plans to refurbish Harrogate Hydro and build a new leisure centre in Knaresborough.
The council formally chose Alliance Leisure yesterday as development manager for the £26 million projects.
The company was appointed directly, without a competitive tender process.
A council report said its selection procedure complied with EU procurement regulations and would “avoid the traditional more time-consuming procurement process for public organisations”.
Alliance Leisure will be tasked with progressing both schemes until they are ready to be constructed. From there, it will also be able to bid for the construction contract for the projects.
The council borrowed £1.7 million for design and business cases for the scheme.
It is not known if this is the precise sum being paid to Alliance Services.
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Hambleton District Council also hired Alliance Services to help build Northallerton Leisure Centre.
Cllr Stan Lumley, cabinet member for leisure, tourism and sport, approved the appointment.
The Stray Ferret asked the council why Alliance was chosen, why it was appointed without competitive tender and how long the process would take to get to construction. However, we had not received a response by the time of publication.
On Wednesday, the council announced that its preferred site for the new leisure centre in Knaresborough was the existing site on King James Road.
The existing swimming pool site in Knaresborough.
Residents had previously raised concern that the Grade II listed Conyngham Hall could have been chosen for the project.
A Hands Off Conyngham Hall Grounds petition by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats attracted more than 1,600 signatures.
But that option now seems to be off the table.
Ian Clark, Knaresborough Civic Society’s secretary, welcomed the decision. He told the Stray Ferret:
“This is good news for many people in Knaresborough. Conyngham Hall was not a suitable option for a leisure centre.
“It would not have done the historic building any favours if they built a new site right next to it and replaced park land with a car park.”
