Council officials have drawn up logos and designs for the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The combined authority, which will be headed by an elected mayor, is scheduled to be launched in November this year.

It will include councillors from North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council and make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

Officials have drawn up brand designs for the new council at a cost of £5,000.

The designs, which were developed in-house, include colours from each of the authorities including North Yorkshire Council, City of York Council, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

A spokesperson for the council said that the designs were drawn up “in order to minimise spend and utilise existing assets as much as possible”.

They added:

“The branding was developed taking into account all of the partners existing logos and colour palettes, including for the LEP’s Growth Hub and Invest in York and North Yorkshire brands.

“This was in order to minimise spend and utilise existing assets as much as possible. An iterative process, working through a number of concepts led to the brand that was approved by the joint committee.”

The branding is expected to be included on social media, the authority website, posters and staff lanyards.

What is a combined authority?

A combined authority is a body set up for two or more councils to make joint decisions.

In this case, North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council would come together to make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.

It will be a separate body to North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council.

The closest example of this is West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which recently has led on the £11.9 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, as well as similar schemes in Skipton and Selby.

The combined authority would be headed by a mayor who is directly elected by the public.

An election for the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is set to be held in May 2024.

Read more:

• Council approves additional £1m to set up North Yorkshire combined authority
• Explained: What is North Yorkshire’s combined authority?

The owners of the St George Hotel in Harrogate and the Spa Hotel in Ripon have confirmed the venues will be given new names and branding.

The properties, which are being refurbished, will be renamed The Harrogate Inn and The Ripon Inn.

The Harrogate Inn is due to re-open in early summer with 96 rooms — six more than previously. The Ripon Inn is expected to reopen in midsummer with 58 rooms — 15 more than previously.

The Harrogate Inn

The two hotels have also been given new coats of arms.

The new identities reflect the brand style of owners the Inn Collection Group, a Newcastle-based company that has historic venues across the north.

Inn Collection Group venues serve food and drink all day and are styled as pubs with rooms rather than hotels.

Its other venues include Knaresborough’s Dower House, which has been renamed The Knaresborough Inn.

Zoe Cooper, marketing manager for the Inn Collection Group, said:

“As with the new names we have unveiled for other sites recently, including The Knaresborough Inn, we have looked to embrace the history of the wider area and we hope the new look will create a talking point that serves as a link to the past while the site embarks on an exciting future.

“With both sites we have adopted the name of the locale for the property, which allows us to introduce its setting more easily for potential visitors who may be considering a stay, allowing them to look further into what all these fantastic places have to offer.”

The Ripon Inn

The refurbished guest accommodation at The Ripon Inn will provide a mix of double, twin and family bedrooms, accessible rooms, suites, and dog friendly rooms.

It will have an additional 15 en-suite rooms and the reconfigurated ground floor area will include a new bar and kitchen area.

The Harrogate Inn will see six new bedrooms added on the ground floor and a “complete transformation of the venue’s hospitality spaces”, according to the owners.

Coats of arms

The Ripon Inn, set in six acres of gardens, has been closed to guests since July 2020 for extensive internal and external works.

Its new coat of arms is made up of a shield flanked by a pair of stags, linking to the historical coat of arms of the Earl and Marquess or Ripon.

The left half of the shield contains a representation of the Ripon horn in recognition of the history of the city’s wakemen and hornblowers.

Sitting on a red background — a colour scheme and motif that appear in the city’s coat of arms – this is combined with a yellow chevron which is again informed by the Earl and Marquess of Ripon’s heraldry.

The right-hand side of the shield features a stylised illustration of the grade one listed Ripon Cathedral and its early English gothic west front, dating back to 1220 and regarded as one of the best examples of its type.

The Harrogate Inn closed in January for a 16-week refurbishment.

Its coat of arms sees the left half of the shield contain a red and white asymmetrical crossed pattern taken from the town’s original coat of arms, together with the white rose of Yorkshire.

The right-hand side of the shield features a lion ‘passant’ taken from the borough council’s arms, and this is bounded top and bottom by repeating wavy lines to represent the importance of springs in the town’s history.

Supporting the shield are a pair of griffins taken from the crest of the Slingsby family, who were instrumental in bringing prosperity to the town through Sir William Slingsby and his discovered of the first spring in Harrogate, the Tewitt Well, over three hundred years ago.

Read more:

• Harrogate hotel begins recruiting — three weeks after laying off 76 staff
• New name and coat of arms for Knaresborough hotel
• Stray Views: Memories of Harrogate’s St George Hotel