The children of Ripon are paying the price for Harrogate Borough Council’s ‘incompetent handling’ of the multi-million pound leisure centre project.

That’s the view of Ripon City Council, which backed a call from Independent leader Andrew Williams for immediate action to make the overgrown playing fields at the Camp Close site useable in time for the summer holidays.

Councillors also called for barriers, restricting access to the bike and skate park on site, to be removed so that proper access is restored. Some fencing has been forced down by young people wanting to use the facility (pictured above).

The centre opened behind schedule and over budget in March.

The council also agreed on Monday evening, to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to HBC for a key report to be made public to discover the financial liability that council tax payers face for remedial work to leisure centre foundations.

The report, which was prepared by engineering consultancy Stantec,  was received by HBC more than two months ago, prior to the local elections in May, but has yet to be presented to the council’s cabinet.

Overgrown and yet to be landscaped, the playing fields.

Cllr Williams, who was elected to represent Ripon at parish and North Yorkshire level, claimed:

“There is a clear attempt to suppress this report and literally kick it into the leisure centre’s long grass.

“But the public has a right to know the full financial consequences, before the successor authority has to deal with the mess of HBC’s incompetent handling of the project from the outset, starting with their decision to build on a site with a known history of ground instability.”

What was promised and what has been delivered?

The £10.2 million contract signed with construction company Willmott Dixon in November 2019, was for delivery of the new pool, a refurbished leisure centre, creation of a children’s playground, landscaping of the site, reinstatement of a football pitch, provision of parking for vehicles and bicycles and installation of electric car charging points.

To date, the pool, children’s playground, parking facilities and charging points, have been delivered, but only the gym on the upper floor of the leisure centre is open, with activities, such as spin classes relocated to the Hugh Ripley Hall.

The agreed completion date for the contract was May 2021, but delays caused by ground instability meant extensive grouting (injection of concrete) had to take place which held up the opening of the pool until March of this year.

Reluctance to release the Stantec report

Following an initial inspection by Stantec of a ‘void’ near the entrance to the leisure centre, discovered during construction work in September 2020, the consultancy was appointed to carry out a detailed investigation of the foundations.

In April, chartered engineer and Ripon resident Stanley Mackintosh, submitted an FOI request to HBC, seeking release of the Stantec report, but despite repeated attempts to obtain a copy, he still awaits their decision on whether or not the report will be released to him.

Escalating costs

Mr Mackintosh, pointed out:

“The known running total for the project as of September 2021, was standing at £14,590,665 and In my opinion, considerable additional monies will be needed to carry out the extremely complex  works.

“This is because the foundations will need to be thickened from 200mm to 750mm, and superstructure modifications will be required to improve the structural stiffness of the building.

“It’s a very costly exercise to carry out under an existing building and even then, long-term sustainability cannot be guaranteed, because of the on-going underground gypsum dissolution that will continue to occur.”

He pointed out:

“Ground instability will be a constant feature in this area of Ripon, as evidenced by the opening up of a sinkhole in February 2018 on the leisure centre car park and the discovery of a further sinkhole close to the centre’s entrance in September 2020.

Chartered civil engineer Stanley Mackintosh, pictured outside the site before the swimming pool opened

“The actual remediation costs will only be known when the findings of the Stantec report are released and I have been attempting, under FOI legislation, to obtain a copy of that report, but the council appears reluctant to let me have it.”

“This stonewalling is a classic case of kicking the can down the road, because the council knows that there will be significant financial implications for council tax payers, long after HBC’s affairs have been taken over by the new North Yorkshire Council next April.”

What does Harrogate Borough Council have to say?

HBC has confirmed that the Stantec report has not been presented to its cabinet members.

A spokesperson, said in a statement:

“The report, and recommendations, will be presented to the meeting of the cabinet in due course.”

The spokesperson also confirmed that the council considers that remedial works that will need to be carried out under the centre are a financially viable proposition.

Asked when the landscaping works and restoration of the football pitch will be carried out, so that children can use the area for recreation once more, the spokesperson didn’t give any specific dates, but said:

“This work will be completed towards the end of the investment project at the leisure and wellbeing centre.”

Read more:

• Ripon pool opening delayed again
• Sinkhole experts urge councillors to consider new site for Ripon pool
• Thumbs up for new Dallamires playground in Ripon

A year after four Ripon homes had to be evacuated because of subsidence, the owners are continuing to press for settlement of a long-standing insurance claim.

Fears of a building collapse at the 35-year-old Bedern Court scheme on Skellgarths have increased following a new report by a monitoring engineer.

Leaseholders and owners feel they have been put in a desperate situation caused by circumstances beyond their control.

The claim is currently with global insurance company Arch, and while owners and tenants of the four affected properties hope for good news, the engineer’s report has highlighted a worsening situation exacerbated by sinkhole activity in the area.

Four homes at Bedern Court have remained empty after being evacuated a year ago

Mat Pritchard, chairperson of Bedern Court Ltd (BCL) – a non-profit company controlled by owners and leaseholders with houses and apartments in the 29-unit development – told the Stray Ferret:

“The report from our monitoring engineer indicates that the ground movement is still ongoing, and appears to be speeding up.

“The risk of catastrophic collapse has ratcheted upwards and we are now seriously worried that the block could be very close to some kind of tipping point.

“We greatly fear a situation where it does collapse or partially collapse, and someone gets killed or injured.”

In addition to the monitoring report, BCL commissioned a separate investigation from a geotechnical engineering practice.

This looked at the history of the site and concluded that the subsidence issues experienced there do constitute an insurable risk that should be covered by insurance.

The report was sent to Arch in June and Mr Pritchard, who owns one of the affected properties with his wife Jane, said:

“We have been in very regular contact with the insurers in an attempt to get this matter resolved as swiftly as possible, but we are still waiting.

“All authorities, including the parish, district and county councils, have been contacted by us and kept updated.

“We have taken all of the measures that we can, but feel that we are rapidly running out of time.”

The final cost of Harrogate Borough Council’s delayed multi-million pound leisure centre project in Ripon remains unknown.

In December, following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Stray Ferret, the council said that the information was ‘confidential’

It did, however, confirm that:

“Additional ‘site preliminaries’ will be payable to the main contractor as a result of the extension of the construction contract.”

Last week, senior councillors on the authority’s cabinet approved additional spending on the scheme estimated to cost £110,000.

This is required to investigate a ‘void in the ground’ and is necessary in order to retain the council’s business insurance on the building.

The ‘void’ was discovered last year near the entrance to the leisure centre.

The centre is being refurbished and will be attached to the new six-lane pool.

Responding to a second FOI request in March, the council said:

“The information you request is not held by Harrogate Borough Council because the final costs are not yet known.”

Now, after conducting an internal review of the FOI responses, Joanne Barclay the council’s acting chief solicitor (corporate services) said:

“I have reviewed this matter and I consider that the council met its obligation under regulation 5(1) at the time of its response to you and confirmed that the information you requested was not held.

“The Council provided a reason for this by confirming that the final costs were not yet known.”

Read more:

• Additional Ripon swimming pool cost ‘confidential’
• Harrogate Council secrecy

Discovery of the ‘void’ follows a separate incident in February 2018, when a sinkhole opened up on the leisure centre car park.

At a June 2019 planning meeting, three members of the eight-member committee abstained rather than support the project, after ‘deep concerns’ were expressed about the sinkhole risk in an area of Ripon known for widespread gypsum deposits.

In November of that year, construction company Willmott Dixon, was awarded a £10.2 million contract for delivery of the swimming pool/leisure centre scheme.

The 17-month contract had a completion date of 21 May 2021.

Last November, Councillor Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, said the project had been ‘slightly delayed’ by covid.

In a press release dated November 13, he added:

“Ground work, known as grouting, is nearing completion.”

Grouting is a method used to stabilise unstable ground.

In our FOI requests, we enquired about the additional costs involved in extension of the contract with Willmott Dixon.

We also asked what proportion of additional cost has arisen through the need for extra ground remediation works.

To date, the council has been unable to answer either of these questions

In its response to our first FOI request, it stated:

“A public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that its disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest.”