Harrogate town council: could it run Harrogate Convention Centre?

From the running of Harrogate Convention Centre to bin collections, the district’s public services will change in 18 months when devolution kicks in.

One of the major questions confronting Harrogate in 2023 will be what assets it wants to retain control of.

North Yorkshire County Council, which successfully bid for the new unitary council model, has promised “double devolution”.

That means a town council will be able to bid for assets — even though this may see council tax precepts hike up.

One of the Harrogate district’s biggest assets is its convention centre. Harrogate Borough Council has long sold it as an economic benefit to the town.

But it soon could become an economic vehicle which is no longer controlled locally.

HCC as an economic asset

In April 2023, a process known as “vesting day” will be held. This will see assets of all seven district councils moved to the control of North Yorkshire Council, the proposed name of the new unitary authority.

Among those which will be transferred is Harrogate Convention Centre.

The HCC has for a decade been sold as a £60 million benefit to the district – though this dropped to £35 million according to minutes from a council meeting held in December 2019.

An economic impact summary used to assess the value of the HCC in 2016/17.

With the HCC no longer in the district’s control, the question becomes what will its future be and what role will it play under the unitary council?

North Yorkshire Council officials will have to decide whether it is a strategic asset to them or not.

The new authority will have its own tourism and economic agenda, which the HCC may be included in.

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However, the council will also have to factor in assets in other districts, including Scarborough, Richmondshire and Craven, and have to decide whether to retain control of the HCC after 2023.

Harrogate Borough Council, which will no longer exist in 2023, has long felt that an arms length approach to running the centre is the best approach. It has put public money into the HCC and has since planned a £47 million renovation of the site.

In its annual report in 2019, the council said:

“We are responding to the challenges of the changing nature of the conference industry by redeveloping the Harrogate Convention Centre site.

“The facility contributes around £55 million a year to the local economy and has an important role to play in the district.”

However, the HCC is one of only two conference centres to be run by a local council. The other is Brighton Centre.

The unitary council may feel that the operating model of the HCC needs to change.

Town council control?

Given the scale of the asset and the uncertainty over how a unitary authority based elsewhere in the county will treat it, the question then becomes whether the HCC can be controlled locally?

Should the county council’s “double devolution” agenda come to fruition, a Harrogate authority could bid for control the HCC.

But, given that town councils elsewhere have had to significantly hike up their council tax precepts to pay for modest assets, it may be a tall order for an authority with fewer resources to handle.

Jonathan Webb, senior research fellow at the think tank IPPR North, told the Stray Ferret that any council-run public assets needed to benefit the wider area.

He was critical of the government’s “patchwork” devolution agenda, but added that some services are better run by larger authorities.

Mr Webb said:

“Different authorities will have different systems and I think part of the problem is that the public is not aware of how it works.

“The challenge of creating this new council is it is an extremely large area. The largest at the moment is Cornwall.”

Mr Webb added that the question for the unitary council is whether it can run services in Harrogate better or not.

“Does the unitary deliver anything better. Does it give them more resources or does it affect it?”

Harrogate district reports record 191 daily covid cases

The Harrogate district has reported another record high for daily covid cases as the infection rate continues to soar.

A further 191 cases were confirmed today by Public Health England. The figure surpasses the previous high of 177 on October 6.

The district’s seven-day covid rate now stands at 631 per 100,000 people after passing the 600 mark for the first time yesterday.

The North Yorkshire average is 463 and the England rate stands at 366.

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No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to latest NHS England figures.

A total of 129,455 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 121,051 have had a second dose.

Harrogate district covid rate rises above 600

The Harrogate district seven-day covid rate has risen above 600 for the first time after another 141 infections were confirmed today by Public Health England.

The gap between infection rates in the district and the county and national averages continues to widen. The North Yorkshire rate is 456 and the England rate is 357.

The district with the next highest rate in the county is Craven, at 494.

Harrogate West and Pannal Ash has recorded the most cases within the district in the lasts even days, with 66.

Knaresborough Central has recorded the fewest, with 22.

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Harrogate district covid rate remains highest in North Yorkshire

The Harrogate district’s seven-day covid rate remains the highest in North Yorkshire at 573 infections per 100,000 people.

The next highest in the county is Craven, at 480. The countywide average is 444 and the rate for England it is 348.

Public Health England today reported a further 156 cases in the Harrogate district, which takes the total since the pandemic began to 17,644.

Elsewhere, 129,408 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,863 have had a second dose.

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Harrogate district covid rate reaches another record high

The Harrogate district’s seven-day covid rate has reached another record high.

The average now stands at 591 infections per 100,000 peoples and surpasses the last high of 585, which was reported in September.

North Yorkshire’s rate stands at 444 and the England average is 341.

Meanwhile, the Harrogate district has reported another 114 daily covid infections, according to Public Health England figures.

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Hospitalisations have increased at Harrogate District Hospital, with 13 covid-positive patients receiving treatment – a rise of three on last week.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital.

Elsewhere, 129,376 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,863 have had a second dose.

169 covid cases recorded in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has reported another 169 daily covid infections, according to Public Health England figures.

The district’s seven-day average currently stands at 575 cases per 100,000 people. The rate has increased slightly since dropping earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire rate stands at 437 and the England average is 337.

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Hospitalisations have increased at Harrogate District Hospital, with 13 covid-positive patients receiving treatment – a rise of three on last week.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital.

Elsewhere, 129,353 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,845 have had a second dose.

Daily covid cases hit another high in Harrogate district

The Harrogate district has recorded another record high for daily covid cases, according to latest government figures.

Public Health England statistics today show 177 cases have been reported.

The figure surpasses the previous record high for daily infections, which stood at 172 on January 4.

Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate stands at 546 per 100,000 people.

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The North Yorkshire average is 429 and the England rate stands at 333.

No further covid deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to latest NHS England figures.

Elsewhere, 128,300 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,726 have had a second dose.

Harrogate district reports 138 covid infections as rate falls

The Harrogate district has reported another 138 daily covid infections, according to Public Health England figures.

The district’s seven-day average currently stands at 530 cases per 100,000 people. The rate has fallen since reaching a record high of 580 at the start of October.

Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire rate stands at 434 and the England average is 332.

However, hospitalisations remain much lower than previous waves with 10 covid-positive patients receiving treatment in Harrogate District Hospital.

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No further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital.

Elsewhere, 128,277 people have received a first covid vaccine in the Harrogate district and 120,643 have had a second dose.

Fears for thousands of Harrogate district jobs as furlough ends

There are fears for the jobs of around 3,600 workers in the Harrogate district in the wake of last week’s ending of furlough.

The government scheme introduced at the start of the covid outbreak has protected millions of jobs during the pandemic, with Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones saying it “got our country through the darkest days of the lockdown”.

But Liberal Democrat councillors in the district have warned that businesses and employees could now be hit by a “tidal wave of job losses” unless more support is made available.

Cllr Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition group on Harrogate Borough Council, said the Liberal Democrats both locally and nationally were demanding the scheme be extended for businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.

She said: 

“The withdrawal of furlough risks having a devastating impact on at least 3,600 people in the Harrogate area who are already facing a winter of soaring energy bills and cuts to benefits.

“Supporting them and their families is both the right and responsible thing to do.

“Although many may find work in recovering sectors such as hospitality and travel, there is also likely to be a rise in unemployment due to new redundancies as businesses fail without the support of furlough.”

Some workers who relied on furlough are also now facing the added worry of the end of the £20-a-week boost to Universal Credit.

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This temporary increase to payments, which was introduced in response to the pandemic, ends tomorrow.

Citizens Advice has described this as a “disastrous decision” by the government and warned around 1.5 million claimants across the UK could be pushed into hardship this winter.

Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of the charity, said: 

“Shop workers, nursery assistants and security guards are just some of the people on Universal Credit seeking our help because they’re already struggling to make ends meet.”

Supported 28,600 jobs in Harrogate district

The furlough scheme supported around 28,600 jobs in the Harrogate district for 18 months.

It saw the government pay around £70 billion towards the wages of employees across the UK who could not work, or whose employers could no longer afford to pay them, up to a monthly limit of £2,500.

At first it paid 80% of their usual wage, but in August and September it paid 60%, with employers paying 20%.

Since its end, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged more than £500 million in fresh funding to help people back into work and support sectors which are facing recruitment crises.

Funding for the new packages will not be set out until later this month and it comes at a time when Mr Sunak and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are facing pressure to ease the historically high tax burden.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Mr Jones said while now was the right time for furlough to end, the extra funding showed the government was willing to continue its support for jobs during the covid recovery.

He added: 

“The furlough scheme is estimated to have cost £70bn and this will need repaying. But the human and financial cost of letting industries, businesses and jobs go to the wall during lockdown would have been catastrophic.

“It is going to be a bumpy road ahead even so but without the actions that were taken it is difficult to imagine what the situation would have been.”

Harrogate district covid rate finally declines

The Harrogate district average covid rate has fallen after soaring in recent weeks to record levels.

Another 95 infections were recorded today by Public Health England.

It brought the weekly rate down to 560 per 100,000 people after it yesterday reached 580 — the highest it has been at any time.

The district’s rate still remains well above the North Yorkshire average of 451 and the England average of 336.

Killinghall and Hampsthwaite has recorded 71 infections in the last seven days, which is the most in the district. Ouseburn, Hammerton and Tockwith is next with 70.

At the other end of the scale, Stray has had just 25 cases, which is the fewest in the district. Menwith, Beckwithshaw and Denton Moor has had 26.

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