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09
Dec
Key report on future of Harrogate Convention Centre to be withheld from public
Members of the public will not get to see a consultants’ report on the future of Harrogate Convention Centre — even though the building is funded by taxpayers and could have a significant impact on the local economy.
North Yorkshire Council is expected to make a decision on the future of the ageing conference and events venue at a meeting on December 17.
Although a council officer’s report will be published with the agenda papers, the consultants’ report will remain private.
The council paid London-based consultants 31Ten £23,000 of taxpayers' money this year to develop options for the future use of the centre.
It did so after previously paying consultants £1.9 million to develop plans for a £57.2 million redevelopment that were later scrapped.
The centre, which has a 2,000-seat auditorium, is estimated by the council to contribute £45 million annually to the local economy and support 7,000 jobs. But it operates at a loss and is subsidised by taxpayers.
'Commercially sensitive'
Although the centre is publicly funded, this is not the first time the council has appeared reluctant to release information about it to the public.
Last month it was forced to release figures on how frequently the centre’s 2,000-seat auditorium is used after the Stray Ferret appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The council claimed disclosing the information could "impact future negotiations" but the Stray Ferret argued the public interest in disclosure outweighed this, particularly as the taxpayer funds the venue and could be affected by the final outcome.
The council, whose £121,000-a-year centre director Paula Lorimer has refused to talk to the Stray Ferret, now claims the latest consultants’ report is “commercially sensitive”.
Conservative council leader Carl Les said:
The intention was always to have a public facing report with the majority of the discussion to be in the public domain. The public report will be published online on December 9 as part of the agenda for the executive’s meeting.
However, a public notice was issued on November 15 to state that there would potentially be a part-exemption applied as there will be a confidential appendix relating to the external consultant’s report. The report from the consultants is currently considered exempt from public publication as it contains commercially sensitive information regarding the marketing exercise and matters relating to staffing.
Harrogate Convention Centre's auditorium
Cllr Les added his ruling executive would decide whether any part of the discussion would be held in secret “but I expect that most, if not all, of the discussion will be held in public and that the final decision will be held in public”.
Asked when the consultants’ report will be made public, Cllr Les said:
The report will not be made public at this time as it contains commercially sensitive information and staffing information. However, the conclusions of the soft market testing will be contained in the public report.
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Constitutional question
The council’s constitution says it must give at least 28 days’ notice of its intention to hold any part of a meeting in private.
Its notice relating to the convention centre, signed by assistant chief executive Barry Khan, is dated November 15, which would give sufficient notice of the meeting on December 17. But it only appeared on the ‘newly published’ section of the council’s website on December 2.
The Stray Ferret asked the council where it appeared in public before December 2.
Cllr Les said:
The notice stating that part of the information will be exempt was published on the council’s website on November 15 and therefore 28 days’ notice has been given. There was a typing error in the template of the report which was corrected on December 2, but all the relevant information has remained the same and has been on for the relevant period of time.
We again asked the council when and where the report first became publicly available but have not had an answer.
Cllr Les, and Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon, have both hinted that the venue will be run as a public-private partnership.
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