Still no re-opening date for new Knaresborough playground

There is still no re-opening date for the new playground at Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

North Yorkshire Council opened the £17.5 million leisure centre in December last year. It said at the time the Fysche Hall Field Play Area alongside it would open in January.

It briefly opened in February but closed after just a few days due to flooding. More than two months later it remains closed.

Cllr Matt Walker, who represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council, gave an update yesterday after visiting the site with fellow Liberal Democrat Cllr Hannah Gostlow, who represents Knaresborough East.

Cllr Walker said they had a “very productive” meeting with the council and developers, and added:

“They have accepted there are still lots of snagging issues and we sent them home with a very long list to address. This included fixing the inadequate drainage at the playground that is still causing water to pool and stopping the opening.

“Sadly we weren’t give a timescale and I’ve escalated to senior staff to get it resolved. I will be insisting that the council does not pay the final bill until all the issues are resolved.”

The leisure centre, which is run by council-owned leisure company Brimhams Active, has a six-lane 25-metre swimming pool, a slide, and a 60-station fitness suite.

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Fairfax Wellbeing Hub set for £278,000 upgrade

Fairfax Wellbeing Hub in Harrogate is in line for a major upgrade.

North Yorkshire Council has approved awarding a contract worth £278,397 to Nottingham firm Universal Civils & Build Ltd to refurbish the building.

The hub is run by council-controlled leisure company Brimhams Active. Its main hall is used for sports such as basketball, netball, indoor tennis and badminton.

The venue on Fairfax Avenue also hosts exercise classes.

Stuart Wilmslow, head of operations at Brimhams, said:

“The improvement work will partially remodel the interior of this community centre to provide a new exercise area, accessible toilet, improved reception and office.

“The remodel will allow the centre to increase opportunities for our community. Working with partners, including the NHS, we will be able to increase our delivery of specialist programmes for people living with long term health conditions, in a space that is local, welcoming, and accessible.”

The main hall

Mr Wilmslow added the centre has been running at capacity for several years, adding:

“So the introduction of an additional exercise space will allow us to impact more people, allowing them to manage their condition, living well for longer.”

According to the council’s website,  the scheme work on site is expected to begin next month and last three months but Mr Wilmslow said:

“We are waiting for a start date on site.”

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Council-owned Brimhams Active to spend £8,000 on staff awards party

Council leisure company Brimhams Active is to spend at least £8,000 of public money on a staff awards ceremony this weekend.

Brimhams operates all leisure provision in the Harrogate district on behalf of North Yorkshire Council, including leisure centres in Harrogate, Ripon Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge, as well as Starbeck Baths.

A source alerted the Stray Ferret to Sunday’s event at the Pavilions of Harrogate. They added:

“I would think as a North Yorkshire Council-owned company, the council taxpayers’ money they have left at the end of a financial year would go back to the council rather than finding an excuse to spend it, particularly given the increases we’ve all had on our council tax bills this week.”

The new Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre

The Stray Ferret contacted North Yorkshire Council for further details of the event, including the cost.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, initially said costs had been “kept to a minimum by suppliers sponsoring the awards” but did not disclose a figure.

He added:

“Our annual people awards event is a fabulous opportunity to recognise and celebrate effort and achievement.

“The event itself helps our people who work day-to-day across different facilities to come together and connect. It plays a huge part in boosting morale, which in turn helps enhance workforce productivity.

“Up to 200 members of our team will attend the awards event at the Pavilions of Harrogate.”

When pressed for a figure, Mr Tweedie said:

“The venue hire and food is charged at £40 per person and we have 200 people attending. We are very careful in how we manage our budget. We believe this is a sound, proportionate investment in our people that helps to optimise people recruitment, retention and productivity for a business with a circa £8 million turnover.

“This investment serves to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding team and individual efforts that have delivered remarkable results, including overachieving in relation to footfall and budget and achievement of national accreditations (Quest and Water Wellbeing) within 2.5 years of the company’s inception.”

He added “the decorations are provided by staff” and the photographer and DJ were “providing their services in kind”.

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Brimhams to be abolished

Brimhams Active, which was set-up up by the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council, is due to be abolished after executive councillors decided to bring leisure provision back in-house in January.

The council’s current portfolio, which includes 19 leisure centres, 16 swimming pools, three wellbeing hubs, a nursery and Harrogate’s Turkish Baths, is run by five different operators.

But despite councillors stating the existing Brimhams model is “particularly advanced”, the leisure shake-up will see all these services moved to a single in-house operation.

The local authority believes the new structure will see a greater focus on health and wellbeing, provide more opportunities for people to participate and will focus on addressing inequalities.

It hopes the transition will be complete by 2028.

No.3: Leisure centre revolution in Harrogate and Knaresborough

In this article, which is part of a series on the 12 stories in the Harrogate district that shaped 2023, we’re looking at the council’s £47.9 million investment into local leisure centres.

The Harrogate district has undergone something of a council leisure centre revolution in recent years – with Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon all boasting multi-million pound developments.

The process has certainly not been plain sailing. From sink holes and temporary gyms to delays, North Yorkshire Council’s fitness projects have rarely been out of the Stray Ferret news.

But by the end of the year it was hard to dispute the view of Mark Tweedie, the managing director of Brimhams Active, which runs leisure facilities on behalf of the council, that the district’s facilities were the envy of North Yorkshire.

In a further twist, however, the new North Yorkshire Council has now said it is to scrap Brimhams and bring all of the county’s leisure services back in-house.

Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre

The former Harrogate Hydro, now known as the Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre, opened in September following an almost 18-month transformation.

The £13.5 million refurbishment included a 400-square metre fitness centre, a new sauna and steam room, improved reception area and café, as well as an overhaul of the existing gym, spin, leisure and swimming facilities.

The Brimhams Active-run site boasts three swimming pools: a 25-metre lane pool, a diving pool and a children’s pool.

People can also attend fitness classes, including an immersive spin class, pilates and yoga.

The opening was well-received. When the Stray Ferret reported on it, one person’s comment on social media summed up how many felt:

“It’s amazing, we are so lucky to have theses facilities in Harrogate.”

In May, North Yorkshire Council said the cost of the scheme had increased from a budgeted £11.9 million.

Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre

The long-awaited Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre opened its doors in December.

Work began on the site, which is next to the former Knaresborough Pool, in April 2022 after plans were approved the month before.

It was originally expected to open in summer, however, the opening date was repeatedly delayed until this month.

The transformed centre now offers a six-lane 25-metre pool, a leisure pool and slide, and a 60-station fitness suite.

Like the Harrogate site, there is also a sauna and steam room, a café, a group cycling studio and a studio for fitness classes.

The outdoor children’s play area is still in the works but is expected to open in January.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for arts, culture and housing, Cllr Simon Myers, told the Stray Ferret ahead of its opening:

“You come over the brow of the hill in Knaresborough and see the leisure centre building – it is such an attractive building.

“It sits so well in its space, it’s full of light and the facilities are fantastic.

“This is what local authorities can achieve. It’s a real asset to Knaresborough.”

Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, Ripon

The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, in Ripon, has not only faced the most bumps – or holes – in the road, but also the biggest expenditure of the three.

Although the site officially reopened in March last year, Ripon residents are yet to see the full transformation.

The old part of the site is locked in a sinkhole groundhog day of never-ending work on a “void” beneath the building, which remains closed.

Following the discovery of the void, which is believed to have been there for several years, the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council submitted a planning application to install a temporary gym in the centre’s car park in July 2022.

This was to enable the closure of the existing gym on the upper floor of the 28-year-old building, which was found to require £3.5 million worth of ground stabilisation works.

The temporary structure was supposed to open that autumn – just months after the application was submitted – however, the installation was continually delayed.

It was not until April this year that the £300,000 building, which houses the temporary gym, was installed.

The stabilisation work, which began in June, brought the cost to £18 million — £8 million over budget.

However, that too has not come without challenges.

North Yorkshire Council said in October its movement checks revealed multiple cracks up to 10mm long.

It said the cracks have affected the “weather tightness of the building and the operation of doors and windows” but added specialists had said there were no safety concerns.

The council said at the time the estimated completion date and costs were “under review”.

Works at the site.

‘Stop throwing good money after bad’

Councillor Andrew Williams, a member of the Conservative and Independents group at the council and leader of Ripon City Council, said last year it was time to stop “throwing good money after bad” and to “look for a suitable location for a new leisure centre to be built on sound land”.

In response to the discovery of the cracks, Cllr Williams said:

“The building is under very close monitoring to ensure that there is no movement as the works progress, if there is movement then the position will have to be reviewed in the light of that information.

“The situation is far from ideal and I hope that it will prove possible to complete these works because the bottom line is that Ripon needs a functioning leisure centre.”

The new building, which includes the swimming pool, sauna and steam room, has remained open throughout.

However, it looks like members will be using the temporary gym and attending group classes at Hugh Ripley Hall in the city centre well into 2024…

Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre

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VIDEO: First look at new £17.5m Knaresborough leisure centre

Knaresborough Leisure Centre opens to the public next Monday, December 11.

However, the Stray Ferret had a sneak peek this morning.

The Knaresborough site includes a six-lane 25-metre pool, a leisure pool and slide and a 60-station fitness suite.

There is also a studio for group fitness classes, a group cycling studio, a sauna and steam room, and a café.

The sauna.

A children’s outdoor play area is still in the works but is expected to open in January 2024.

The leisure centre has been built next to the former Knaresborough swimming pool, which was built in 1990.

It was last refurbished 20 years ago. Its opening marks a third addition to the local Brimhams Active centres.

The steam room.

Knaresborough Leisure Centre is a North Yorkshire Council-led project.

It is part of a £47.9 million investment into leisure provisions, which also include the newly developed Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon.

The site offers immersive spin classes.

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for culture, arts and housing at North Yorkshire Council, told the Stray Ferret today:

“You come over the brow of the hill in Knaresborough and see the leisure centre building – it is such an attractive building.

“It sits so well in its space, it’s full of light and the facilities are fantastic.

“This is what local authorities can achieve. It’s a real asset to Knaresborough.”

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Harrogate braced for second leisure services shake-up in three years

Just three years since its last overhaul, Harrogate’s leisure services look set for another restructure.

With the formation of Brimhams Active, a council-owned company, Harrogate Borough Council officials promised a new dawn for facilities in the district.

This came in the shape of multi-million pound investments in Harrogate and Knaresborough leisure centres – the latter of which is set to open on December 11.

Now, three years on, North Yorkshire Council looks set to carry out another overhaul of its leisure operation.

Bringing services in-house

The council’s plan, which is detailed in a report due before councillors on Monday, would see the entirety of its operators brought in-house over the next four years.

Currently, the county is served by five separate leisure providers – including Brimhams Active in Harrogate – which cover 19 leisure centres, 16 pools and three well-being hubs.

A private company called Everyone Active provides services in Ryedale and Scarborough; Richmond Leisure Trust runs facilities in Richmond and a charity called Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles oversees sites in Selby. Services in Craven and Hambleton are ran in-house.

The Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

The Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

The council has argued in its report that the current management of leisure is “complex” and bringing it in-house would represent a “bespoke model for the unique circumstances of North Yorkshire”.

It has also promised a “renewed focus on physical and mental health and wider well being”.

The overhaul is expected to cost in the region of £135,000.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for culture, arts and housing at North Yorkshire Council, said:

“The strategic leisure review provides us with an exciting opportunity to transform the delivery of our leisure service and improve outcomes for communities across North Yorkshire.

“What we are recommending puts us at the forefront of a national movement to transform services with a renewed focus on physical and mental health and wider well-being.”

Brimhams’ facilities ‘envy of North Yorkshire’

It comes at a time when North Yorkshire Council is shaping its services, such as licensing, planning and housing, following devolution.

However, it also represents yet another service overhaul for the Harrogate district’s leisure services.

In 2020, the Stray Ferret reported extensively on the borough council’s review of its leisure facilities which culminated in the creation of Brimhams Active in August 2021 to run centres across the district.

The company, which is now owned by North Yorkshire Council, recently embarked on £46 million worth of projects at Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active.

In an interview with the Stray Ferret in September, Mark Tweedie, managing director at the company, described the facilities as the “envy of North Yorkshire”.

Centres in Ripon, Harrogate and Knaresborough also feature Brimhams branding, which could be removed not long after they were put up.

In its report, the council acknowledges that the company’s model is “particularly advanced” and could be scaled up.

However, despite the advanced nature of Brimhams’ operation, the council still plans to streamline its operators and bring them in-house.

The report adds:

“Whilst there is a desire to streamline the current position into a single operating model, this is no reflection on the current provision or providers who deliver much valued and high quality services across the county.”

‘Devil in the detail’

Brimhams currently employs 160 staff and has a turnover of £8.4 million.

At the time of its creation, unions raised concern over the transfer of staff to Brimhams and sought reassures over terms and conditions for leisure workers.

In the end, staff transferred to the company under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, better known as TUPE, on August 1, 2021.

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Speaking on the fresh proposals, Dave Houlgate, secretary of the Unison Harrogate Local Government branch, said he supports facilities being brought in-house.

However, he added that the “devil will be in the detail”.

He said:

“The key for us is the delivery of quality public services but also improving the terms and conditions and pay for our members who are currently enduring a cost of living crisis.  

“If this proposal delivers on these two things and avoids any compulsory redundancies then we are likely to give it our full support.”

The proposal appears to represent the council embarking on a transformation of its services in its image for North Yorkshire following devolution.

However, it also raised questions over how the Harrogate district’s leisure facilities will look and function in the future.

North Yorkshire Council’s transition overview and scrutiny committee will consider the leisure review proposal at a meeting on Monday (December 4).

Council plans to bring North Yorkshire leisure services in-house

North Yorkshire Council looks set to bring the entirety of its leisure services in-house.

The move would consolidate its operators, including Brimhams Active, into an in-house service over the next four years.

North Yorkshire Council’s transition overview and scrutiny committee will consider the proposal at a meeting on Monday (December 4).

Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for culture, arts and housing at North Yorkshire Council, said:

“The strategic leisure review provides us with an exciting opportunity to transform the delivery of our leisure service and improve outcomes for communities across North Yorkshire.

“What we are recommending puts us at the forefront of a national movement to transform services with a renewed focus on physical and mental health and wider well-being.”

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The recommendations follow the first phase of the council’s strategic leisure review, which includedinput from communities and sports groups, as well as organisations such as Sport England and North Yorkshire Sport.

A cross-party working group of councillors visited sites throughout North Yorkshire and their feedback also informed the proposals.

The council said the proposals will build on current best practice, expertise and experience and aim to transform leisure centres into sport and active well-being hubs.

Meanwhile, a report to the committee also recommends carrying out a leisure investment strategy, which will include a review of each leisure site.

The report added:

“This will build on the work already undertaken from the asset condition surveys and will consider further the condition of each site, future role and sustainability as a part of the new delivery model.”

The move comes as Brimhams Active, which was set up by the former Harrogate Borough Council in 2021, recently completed multi-million pound refurbishments at the Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

The company was set up following a strategic review carried out by the borough council, which recommended a local authority controlled company called Brimhams Active be formed to run leisure services in the district.

Its sites include Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre, Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre, the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon and Nidderdale Leisure and Wellness Centre in Pateley Bridge.

Knaresborough leisure centre opening delayed again

The opening of Knaresborough’s new leisure centre has been delayed again.

North Yorkshire Council originally planned to open the £17.6 million Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre when Knaresborough Pool closed at the end of summer.

But the opening was put back until November because of what the council described as “an unavoidable delay involving the new electrical supply to the building”.

In a fresh update today, the council said the scheme had been delayed by another month and was now due to open in early December.

Work on the pool is continuing.

How the site currently looks.

Nic Harne, the council’s corporate director for community development, said:

“We have been informed by the contractor that due to complex mechanical and electrical works at Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre taking longer than anticipated there will, unfortunately, be a slight delay to its re-opening.

“We now anticipate that the newly refurbished centre will be open to the public in early December.”

A council spokesperson said the delay had not increased the cost of the project.

It means people in Knaresborough will be without a pool for at least three months.

The leisure centre, which is being built next to the former pool, will include a six-lane 25-metre pool, activity pool with flume, sauna and steam room, fitness suite and studio, spin studio, café, electric car charging points and bicycle storage.

Once the old pool has been demolished, a play area will be installed in front of the new facility.

The activity pool

Brimhams Active, the council-owned company that manages leisure services in the Harrogate district, uploaded some photos of the leisure centre site today, which we have shown in this article.

The former Harrogate Hydro, which is also operated by Brimhams Active, reopened in September as Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre after a £13.5 million refurbishment.

Councillor Matt Walker, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough West, said:

“Having no pool in Knaresborough for an additional couple of months will add cost for young families during this cost of living crisis who will have to take children to Starbeck Baths or the Hydro.

“I will be asking the council for £1 swimming admissions for all children for the first month when the new Knaresborough pool finally opens.”

Cllr Walker added he was disappointed not to have been informed of the news before the media and called on the council to “improve its poor communication with elected members across Harrogate and Knaresborough”.

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Brimhams Active forecasts £330,000 loss after leisure centre delays

Brimhams Active is forecasting a £330,000 loss at the end of the year due to delays in opening new leisure centre projects in the Harrogate district.

The company, which is wholly owned by North Yorkshire Council, operates leisure facilities in the district.

Its sites include Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre, Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre, the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon and Nidderdale Leisure and Wellness Centre in Pateley Bridge.

According to a council report, the company is forecast to record a £330,000 loss by the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

The shortfall is attributed to the delayed openings of both the Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre which has “negatively affected trading projections”.

The Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre.

Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre

The £13.5 million Harrogate scheme on Jenny Field Drive was due to open in January, but did not do so until September.

The Knaresborough facility, which is set to cost £17 million, was scheduled to open at the end of summer but is now not due to welcome customers until November.

A council report said:

“The delayed opening of two facilities, Harrogate Leisure and Wellness and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness, has been brought about by construction delays and has negatively affected trading projections for the remainder of the year.”

However, the report added that income from the reopening may reduce losses before the end of the year.

In an interview with the Stray Ferret last month, Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, admitted the delays at the sites had been frustrating.

However, he said the benefits of the investment would soon be felt across the district.

He said:

“We will have an estate that will be the envy of North Yorkshire. The investment that’s gone in is unprecedented and significant.”

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‘Our leisure centres will be the envy of North Yorkshire’

Leisure centre visitors in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough have been as likely to wear hard hats as swimming costumes in recent years.

All three sites have undergone lengthy projects to refurbish or replace council-owned facilities.

Those in charge probably wish they too had hard hats to protect themselves from the flak caused by soaring costs and delays. The nine-month delay refurbishing the former Harrogate Hydro meant it reopened two days before the end of the school summer holidays.

But finally there is something to cheer.

The new Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre has already attracted almost 2,000 members. It has an eight-lane pool and diving boards, a well-equipped gym twice the size of its previous incarnation and three plush exercise studios.

The pool at Harrogate.

One of three studios at Harrogate.

Elsewhere, the partially-open Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre will eventually provide Ripon with a gym and pool on the same site; Knaresborough is weeks away from a new leisure centre and the gym at Pateley Bridge has been refurbished.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, the council-owned leisure company that runs the sites, admits the delays have been frustrating but says the benefits of the £46 million investment will soon be felt across the district. He says:

“We will have an estate that will be the envy of North Yorkshire. The investment that’s gone in is unprecedented and significant.”

Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre is certainly a cut above the average council leisure centre.

Monthly membership, which provides unlimited access to gyms, pools and classes at all Brimhams sites, is £44.95. That isn’t as cheap as Pure Gym or Coach Gyms but they haven’t got pools. Gym-only Brimhams membership is £33.

Mr Tweedie argues they also don’t have the same focus on community health as Brimhams, which he says is “reinventing conventional leisure services to a more impactful, person-centred health and wellbeing service”.

To underline this, the rather soulless ‘leisure and wellness’ moniker has been slapped across the names of all its sites.

Sinkhole saga

But although Harrogate is fully open, work continues elsewhere.

Ripon, which was the first to reopen as the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in March last year, appears locked in some sort of sinkhole groundhog day of never-ending work on a “void” beneath the old part of the site, which remains closed.

Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.

The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre

Remedial work is expected to continue until spring. Mr Tweedie says the centre is “looking to reopen the first floor gym in April next year” with the ground floor studio following in summer.

In the meantime, customers will continue to use the temporary gym in the car park and attend group classes at Hugh Ripley Hall in the city centre.

Knaresborough has been less troublesome than Ripon and Harrogate, although it might not seem like it to residents who currently have nowhere in town to swim since the old pool closed a few weeks ago.

Knaresborough Pool

How the Knaresborough site will look.

Delays meant the seamless transition from old pool to new site didn’t quite happen, but from November people will have access to a six-lane pool, a fun pool with a slide, plus — for the first time — a studio, gym, steam room and sauna.

While others get upgrades, the beautiful Starbeck Baths feels like the forgotten ugly sister. Rumours abound the Victorian pool will be closed and Mr Tweedie’s comments don’t provide much succour:

“The council is reviewing all its leisure sites at the moment. That’s a natural process because it’s just been formed as a unitary council. It will ask for evidence on how its sites perform and the opportunities for development.”

Starbeck Baths

The audit will be followed by a strategy. Does he think Starbeck Baths will still exist in 10 years?

“That’s a decision for councillors. But what I can say is there has been no feedback to me about planning to close Starbeck.”

Membership figures

Brimhams, which employs the full-time equivalent of about 160 staff and has a turnover of £8.4 million, was set up by Harrogate Borough Council in August 2021. But it has been run by the new North Yorkshire Council since April.

Mr Tweedie says Brimhams “was set up to be commercially effective but also to deliver better health outcomes for the community”.

The council currently provides a £1.7 million annual subsidy, which is due to reduce to £1.2 million when the new centres are complete.

The early commercial signs at Harrogate are encouraging. Membership was 600 when the Hydro closed. The new site has 1,800 members — above the 1,750 target for the end of the month.

Ripon, which has less gym competition than Harrogate, has 1,200 members and Nidderdale has 700.

When we last interviewed Mr Tweedie staff shortages was a huge issue but he says this has eased.

Mark Tweedie outside the Harrogate site.

Brimhams is the only council-owned trading company in North Yorkshire. A private company called Everyone Active provides services in Ryedale and Scarborough; Richmond Leisure Trust runs facilities in Richmond and a charity called Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles oversees sites in Selby. The former district councils in Craven and Hambleton ran leisure sites.

Brimhams is due to take control of Selby’s services, which includes Selby Leisure Centre and Tadcaster Leisure Centre, in September next year.

That decision appeared to be a vote of confidence in the Brimhams model but uncertainty remains about how leisure services will be managed long-term in the county once North Yorkshire Council has completed its review.

But in the short-term, it’s all about growing membership — and getting Knaresborough and Ripon sorted.

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