It is now nine months since ground stabilisation work costing £3.5 million began at Ripon Leisure Centre, but North Yorkshire Council (NYC) remains unable to give an opening date for the refurbished building.
The original £10.2 million contract awarded in November 2019 by the now-defunct Harrogate Borough Council to construction company Willmott Dixon, was designed to give Ripon a new six-lane swimming pool attached to a fully revamped and equipped leisure centre building which opened in 1995.
Work began at the Camp Close site off Dallamires Lane in November 2019 and was scheduled to last 17 months.
Equipment used in ground stabilisation pictured at the site yesterday morning (Wednesday)
The total project also includes the provision of a new children’s playground and landscaping and restoration of playing fields that were donated in 1948 by Alderman Cyril Tetley Wade ‘for the benefit of the young people of the city.’
Rising costs
The running total for completion of the project has risen to £18 million and to date the pool at the Jack Laugher Leisure & Wellness Centre, which opened behind schedule in March 2022 and the playground that opened in February 2022, have been delivered.
A temporary gym has been in place on the car park in front of the Jack Laugher Leisure & Wellness Centre since last April. The children’s playground opened in February 2022
A year ago, a temporary gym costing £300,000 was installed on the centre car park and during the period that ground stabilisation works have remained ongoing, gym members have been attending spin classes at Hugh Ripley Hall.
During the four years since it was launched, the Stray Ferret has kept a close watch on the leisure scheme and has sought regular updates, initially from Harrogate Borough Council and from North Yorkshire Council since April 2023, when the unitary authority took over responsibility for the problematic project.
The questions we asked
On March 11 we asked the council the following six questions:
- What is holding up the work?
- Have additional issues arisen since NYC’s last update to the Stray Ferret in January
- Have additional costs been incurred (on top of the £3.5 million allocated for ground stabilisation?
- If yes, how much?
- Is there an opening date in prospect for the fully refurbished leisure centre building
- What progress has been made on the restoration of the children’s playing fields?
A reply received from a council spokesperson three days later said:
“We have nothing further to add to the last statement.”
In that statement, issued by the council on January 16, it said:
“The nature of the work is complex and is under constant review, dates will be announced to key partners when they are confirmed.
“Refurbishment work to the leisure centre began at the same time as the construction of the new swimming pool building, however it was paused when the extent of ground remediation work was identified. Refurbishment work will therefore be finished after completion of the ground stabilisation works.”
In October, the Stray Ferret reported that the leisure centre work had been temporarily paused after ground movement was detected in the 1995 building,
The North Yorkshire spokesperson said in the January statement that since October “no further issues have come to light”.
Working ‘within the confines of the existing budget’
On the question about potential additional costs for the delayed project, the NYC spokesperson stated:
“We continue to work within the confines of the existing budget.”
The Stray Ferret also asked about restoration of the children’s playing fields and football pitch, which have been no go areas for more than four years.
We were told:
“Seeding work will be carried out in advance of the opening date, but this will need to be given time to fully germinate and establish.”
Main image: As work continues on ground stabilisation, no opening date for the refurbished facility is available for North Yorkshire Council
Read more:
- £3.5 million remediation work underway at Ripon leisure centre
- Ripon leisure centre halts price increase due to ongoing work
- City councillors call for an end to spending on Ripon leisure centre
Ripon car dealership to close after Fiat restructure
A Ripon car dealership is set to close its doors at the end of the month after the manufacturer decided to pull out of the city.
Piccadilly Motors will close its branch in Dallamires Lane on Friday, April 28 after receiving notice that Fiat was ending its franchise agreement.
Customers have been invited to use the company’s sister site on Boroughbridge Road, Knaresborough, which will continue to trade as a Kia dealership as well as offering serving for Fiat, Abarth and Alfa cars.
The Knaresborough branch is less than 10 miles away from Ripon, and the Piccadilly team said it has introduced extra support for customers travelling from the Ripon area, including more courtesy cars.
Managing director Simon Watts told the Stray Ferret:
“We have managed this carefully and because of the growth of the business we have in Knaresborough, most customers have already migrated to the Kia product and we’re also doing Fiat for servicing at Knaresborough, as well as MOTs.
“It’s the same with staff. We’ve really handled that in the most sympathetic manner we could. Fortunately, only one person will lose their job, who doesn’t want to travel, but they’ve managed to get another job elsewhere.
“It has been an absolute priority for us to handle it in the most customer- and colleague-friendly manner.”
Mr Watts said the company had looked to find another manufacturer to bring to its Ripon branch, but in a challenging market it had not been possible.
Demand for used cars is high in the UK, leading to low supply for dealerships. The looming prospect of changing legislation over sales of petrol and diesel cars is also having an impact, as manufacturers work to deliver more electric vehicles in time for the 2030 cut-off.
Fiat has only been selling the 500 model, Mr Watts said, and the low volume of sales had led it to restructure its network. He added:
“It’s disappointing, but thankfully we’ve got a business in close proximity that can carry on providing a service.”
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Temporary gym installed at Ripon leisure centre
The building that will house the £300,000 temporary gym at the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre has been located in the car park near the entrance to the swimming pool.
The prefabricated structure was put into position yesterday morning using a long-reach mobile crane and while the opening date has yet to be confirmed, a spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council told the Stray Ferret:
“I believe it will be towards the end of the month (April) that customers will start to use the alternative gym.”
The temporary building
Once up and running, the temporary facility will enable the closure of the existing gym on the upper floor of the 28-year-old leisure centre next to the new swimming pool that opened last March.
This will pave the way for ground stabilisation works costing £3.5million to be carried out under the building.
The temporary gym, operated by Brimhams Active on behalf of the newly-formed North Yorkshire Council unitary authority, will be fitted out with Technogym equipment currently available in the existing leisure and wellness centre, and expert advice and guidance will be available.
Customers will still be able to use the changing and shower facilities in the new pool area – as well as the sauna and steam suite – as they will remain open as normal.
Group exercise classes will also continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.
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A senior Harrogate councillor has defended building a new swimming pool in Ripon on the Dallamires Lane site in the city amid concerns over ground stability.
The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, which includes the new pool, opened in January this year.
However, ground stabilisation works, which are set to cost Harrogate Borough Council £3.5 million, have delayed plans to open the gym and exercise studio on the site.
The work comes after underground voids were discovered beneath the older half of the site which was built in 1995.
At a meeting of the full council on Wednesday, Cllr Pauline McHardy, who represents Ripon minister ward, asked Cllr Stan Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, whether he felt the pool should have been built elsewhere.
She said:
“When this council moves and we go under a unitary, we’re left with a swimming pool that is not stable and could be gone tomorrow.
“My question to you is don’t you think that, instead of spending all this money trying to bodge it up, it would have been find another site and built a completely new one that was suitable for Ripon and its future?”
Cllr Stan Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at Harrogate Borough Council.
However, Cllr Lumley defended the decision to built the pool on the Dallamires Lane site and said the pool was “state of the art” and “way better” than the previous facility.
Cllr Lumley said:
“We decided to build there because it makes absolute sense to have the wet side and the dry side together under one roof, under one management and under one set of staff.
“That’s been proven at other sites around the district and that’s the model that we chose to go forward with as a council.”
He added that he could not agree with “accusations” over instability at the facility.
Temporary gym delayed
Stabilisation works at the site come as a £300,000 temporary gym planned for the centre has been delayed until the New Year.
The gym – which will be situated in the car park next to the main entrance – is due to be in place while work is carried out.
The need for ground stabilisation works follows the discovery of a void under part of the existing leisure centre understood to have been present for a number of years.
Read more:
- Delayed opening for temporary gym at Ripon leisure centre
- Ripon Leisure Centre ground works will cost £3.5 million
It was discovered when the reinforced concrete slab for the new swimming pool was cast.
The temporary gym will include equipment currently available in the existing leisure and wellness centre and expert advice and guidance will be provided by members of the Brimhams Active team.
Customers will be able to use the changing and shower facilities in the new pool area – as well as the sauna and steam suite – which opened in March and group exercise classes will also continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.
Call for roundabout to replace lights at key Ripon junctionA ‘jumble of traffic lights’ at the four-way junction linking the Morrisons Supermarket site with the Ripon to Harrogate Road, Moorside and Quarry Moor Lane, is causing confusion for motorists that may lead to accidents.
That’s the conclusion of Ripon City Council, which is calling for the numerous sets of lights to be replaced by a single roundabout.
Speaking at the July full meeting of the council, leader Andrew Williams, said:
“We have recently had two serious accidents at this junction and it’s just fortunate that neither of them involved fatalities.
“We have a jumble of traffic lights and lanes at this junction – some for vehicles turning in to Morrisons, some for them turning out and, adding to the confusion, there are also turns for Moorside and Quarry Moor Lane.
“The junction would be a lot safer if it were served by a roundabout.”
Fellow councillors were in agreement and the call to North Yorkshire for the roundabout will go alongside a request for further road re-surfacing in and around Ripon city centre.
Read more:
- Ripon school earns praise from Ofsted
- When will work on play facilities for Ripon’s children be carried out?
The potholes have gone from Princess Road
North Yorkshire highways bosses have often had a rough ride when it comes to concerns raised by city councillors about potholed roads, but there was praise for them at the council meeting, as members said they were happy with the resurfacing work carried out on St Mary’s Gate, Minster Road and Princess Road.
Councillor Pauline McHardy said:
“A good job was done by the contractor employed by Harrogate Borough Council to resurface Cathedral Car Park and make the spaces wider and North Yorkshire has done a similarly good job with its recent resurfacing work.”
It was, however, agreed that there is still a long way to go before Ripon is rid of its pothole problems.
Cllr Williams, who was elected onto the North Yorkshire authority in May has taken senior officers and Cllr Keane Duncan, the newly appointed executive member for highways and transportation, on guided tours of the city’s uneven streets.
It is hoped that money can be allocated in forward budgets for repair and renewal works to be carried out.
Cllr Williams, pointed out:
“We visited a number of problem areas, including the four roads around Market Square, Dallamires Lane and Blossomgate and I explained that the people of Ripon would like to have all of them brought up to the standard of the newly-resurfaced roads that we now have in the city”
New Ripon playground gets thumbs-up on opening
A new children’s play area in Ripon opened for families today.
The Dallamires Playground is part of the city’s new £15m Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lane. The pool is set to open on Wednesday.
The playground seems to have gone down well on social media, with posts from parents saying it looks like “so much fun” and “wonderful for little kids”.
The play area can be accessed from a public footpath off Knaresborough Road.
Three-year-old Lottie (pictured in our main image), was one of the first children to play on one of the slides.
Her mum Kim said:
“it’s a lovely new play area for families to bring children to from this part of the city.”
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The Stray Ferret was refused entry to Ripon’s new leisure centre today by staff from Harrogate Borough Council.
Our Ripon reporter Tim Flanagan, who lives in the city, was turned away by a council press officer when he arrived shortly before 2pm.
Tim was told today’s event at the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre was for councillors only and separate arrangements would be made for the press at a later date.
It later transpired that several other media outlets were allowed to look around the new complex today to provide coverage ahead of Wednesday’s opening date.
Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams, who witnessed the incident, said it appeared Harrogate Borough Council was censoring media organisations that asked “legitimate questions” about the way public money is spent and this was “totally unacceptable”.
The Stray Ferret has led on coverage of delays to the construction of the pool and mounting costs, as well as concerns about sinkholes. The pool was due to be ready nine months ago and the leisure centre project is £4m over budget.
Part of the site remains closed for further work after a void — a gap below the surface — was discovered last year.
‘Totally unacceptable’
Cllr Williams, said:
“I can confirm that Harrogate Borough Council’s PR officer told the Stray Ferret journalist that he was not able to look around the new swimming pool and that today’s event was for councillors only and a separate event for the press is yet to be organised and the Stray Ferret will be invited to this.
“I now understand that other media was invited around today and if it’s a case that Harrogate Borough Council has adopted a censorship policy that bars media who ask legitimate questions on the way that public money is spent, this is totally unacceptable in a democracy and is more like the way that Vladimir Putin handles affairs in Russia.”
Read more:
- Ripon pool opening delayed again
- Ripon pool and leisure centre to open next week
- Sinkhole experts urge councillors to consider new site for Ripon pool
The Stray Ferret has reported concerns by Ripon-based chartered engineer Stanley Mackintosh about the wisdom of the council building a swimming pool on land with a history of ground instability issues.
Dr Alan Thompson, a geologist and director of director of Cuesta Consulting in Somerset, has also raised safety concerns — as covered by the Stray Ferret.
We have also reported concerns about the proposed price hike for Ripon City Swimming Club to use the pool to teach swimming.
‘No lifeguards on duty’
A council spokesman said:
“Tim wasn’t banned from entering the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre today.
“Today’s invite was for Ripon city councillors to have a first-look at the facility before it opens on Wednesday. As we explained to the councillors, there are still some finishing touches to complete and them to be mindful while walking around the new pool.
“There were also no lifeguards on duty so we needed to be cautious about the number of people poolside.”
The Stray Ferret replied by asking if it was a councillors-only event why other media outlets were allowed to attend.
Thank you to both @BBCLookNorth and @itvcalendar for coming down to the @JackLaugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in #Ripon this morning.
You can find out more about the new facility this evening or by visiting https://t.co/xAAVxhHReg pic.twitter.com/Os3ZLoJAlC
— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) February 28, 2022
The spokesman said:
“Tim wasn’t refused entry and others allowed in; BBC Look North and ITV Calendar had a first-look this morning and we were limited on time.”
The statement did not mention that local media were also invited — but not the Stray Ferret.
We were subsequently invited to an invitation to view the centre tomorrow.
Ripon pool and leisure centre to open next weekRipon’s new leisure centre and pool will open on Wednesday, it was announced this afternoon.
Harrogate Borough Council has just published a series of tweets announcing the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lane will welcome its first visitors at 6.30am.
The facilities include a 25-metre six-lane pool and sauna and steam room.
The council said in a statement:
“The new six-lane 25m swimming pool has 70 per cent more water space compared to Ripon Spa Baths and has a wealth of improvements that come with modern swimming facilities.
“These include the AngelEye pool safety system that, with the use of underwater cameras, assists lifeguards to detect whether swimmers are in danger or drowning.
“The new pool will be open every day of the week and offers customers a variety of different activities, including general and family swim, swimming lessons and Aquafit, as well as a sauna suite.
“Outside, a new car park has been installed along with a sheltered cycle rack, electric car charging points and a new play area.”
The pool was due to be ready nine months ago and the project is currently £4m over budget.
https://twitter.com/Harrogatebc/status/1497259622234796036
✅ Sauna and steam room
✅ Changing village with level access
✅ Dedicated baby-changing facilities
✅ Family cubicles and group changing facilities
✅ Pool hoists and reserved parking for those with disabilities
✅ Swimming lessons and children's parties— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) February 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/Harrogatebc/status/1497259627209236481