Hot Seat: Leading the Harrogate district’s leisure revolutionPublic leisure centres in the Harrogate district are experiencing their greatest investment ever.
Harrogate Borough Council is spending more than £40m on new pools in Ripon and Knaresborough and on a major refurbishment of The Hydro in Harrogate.
Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, oversees 250 staff responsible for delivering services at these sites as well as several others.
Brimhams is the council-owned company set up last year to promote health and wellbeing in the district.
It operates swimming pools in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Starbeck. All of these sites, except the magnificent old Starbeck Baths and the soon-to-be-rebuilt Knaresborough Pool, also have leisure or fitness centres.
Mark Tweedie with Jack Laugher at the opening of Ripon’s new facility.
Brimhams also oversees Fairfax Wellbeing and Community Hub in Harrogate, Jennyfield Styan Community Centre, a children’s nursery and the Harrogate Turkish Baths.
Mr Tweedie, 54, a former PE teacher with considerable experience of the leisure sector, was hired by the council in November 2020 to support the creation of Brimhams before transferring to his current role in July last year.
He says he was attracted by the council’s vision of using leisure to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the district, backed by its willingness to invest serious money to make it happen.
Difficult start
It hasn’t been an easy ride. There have been costly delays at the new Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon due to sinkhole issues that long pre-date Mr Tweedie. A report due imminently will determine how much more work needs to be done before the site can fully open. He says:
“I’m absolutely confident it will be resolved. Yes, it’s been frustrating. I know customers have been desperate to come back since Spa Baths closed.”
There has been some discontent about the consultation and need for a new leisure centre in Knaresborough, where work is due to begin next month on a 65-week building programme due to finish in July next year.
How Knaresborough’s new pool will look.
Mr Tweedie says the transition from old to new site will be “seamless”, with the current facility operating until the new one opens — something that didn’t happen in Ripon, where the Spa Baths closed four months before the new pool opened due to delays.
Now there is the looming nine-month closure of The Hydro, which will leave Harrogate without a council-run pool.
Staffing has also been difficult — Brimhams has been consistently operating with 20 to 30 vacancies. Opening hours have been affected. Mr Tweedie says:
“It’s been a significant challenge, and it’s shared across the sector nationally.”
Read more:
But there is little doubt that when all the projects are completed, the district’s facilities will be significantly better than they were pre-Brimhams. He says:
“We are through the worst and back on track and people in the Harrogate district and our staff have got a lot to look forward to.”
Aim to nearly double membership
The aim is to increase total membership at the sites in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough to 5,000 within six months of the new facilities opening. Membership totalled about 3,000 at its pre-covid peak so it would be a considerable achievement but Mr Tweedie is “very confident” of achieving it. He says 400 people joined the Ripon centre in the fortnight after it opened.
How the refurbished Hydro will look.
Brimhams’s current monthly rate is £38.95. Customers at The Hydro are being offered a reduced rate of £32 to use the other sites while it is being refurbished. They will also be able to take part in group exercise sessions at the nearby Jennyfield Styan Community Centre.
Large private gym chains such as Pure Gym and Coach Gyms, which offer membership at about £20 a month, have extended their tentacles into the district, which can’t make life easy for council-run alternatives, but Mr Tweedie insists they are serving different markets.
“The private sector is dealing with the 15% that want to join a gym. The question is, what happens to the other 85%? How do we use public facilities to reach out to them?”
He talks about Brimhams taking “a more holistic approach” that leads to a “deeper and more purposeful relationship” with customers. People won’t come just to use the pool or gym, he says, but also to access a wider range of service that are being developed, such as mental health support, nutritional advice and mindfulness. It’s no coincidence that two Brimhams Active sites now include ‘wellbeing’ in their names — it’s clearly the way ahead.
A new software system, due to go live at the end of the month, will enable online booking and a “better digital relationship with customers”, as well as capturing footfall data that Brimhams can use to improve services.
Will it consider 24-hour opening, as many private gyms are? Mr Tweedie says:
“We have no plans for 24/7. We feel we can deal with our customer base between the hours of 6.30am and 10pm.”
Starbeck Baths
The scale of the council’s investment in leisure leads Mr Tweedie to say confidently there are no plans to reduce services or close Starbeck Baths, which is a constant threat to such an ageing facility. He adds:
“What the commercial approach is not about is reducing wages and staff and providing the bare bones of a service.”
All change next year
But his reassurances are tempered by the fact that Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished next year and control of Brimhams will transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council.
Brimhams staff will have a new employer from April 1 and, in time, a new strategy run by different managers.
Mr Tweedie, who lives in Morpeth and divides his time working from home and in the Harrogate district, says it could take at least a couple of years to implement whatever model the new council introduces so his role could exist for some time yet. He says:
“I want to deliver our three-year strategic plan and I am already working with other district leisure service leaders and North Yorkshire colleagues to manage the transition to the unitary authority.”
The important thing, he adds, is that customers don’t notice any sudden changes next year and that frontline staff, such as lifeguards and receptionists, are looked after. He says:
“It’s business as usual for us. We have a vision. We have a strategy. We have a plan we will deliver on that with a high level of tenacity.
Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre in Pateley Bridge.
Harrogate Hydro set to close for nine monthsThe Hydro in Harrogate will close for nine months on April 8 to undergo an £11.8m refurbishment.
The leisure centre and pool is to get a two-storey extension as well as a new entrance, cafe and reception area.
There will also be new diving board equipment, a new fitness suite and the changing areas will be upgraded.
Members will be offered reduced rates to use other council-run leisure facilities in the district, as well as the opportunity to participate in group exercise sessions at the nearby Jennyfield Styan Community Centre.
The current £38.95 monthly charge will go down to £32.
A computer generated image of how the Hydro will look.
Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, which Harrogate Borough Council set up last year to run its leisure facilities, said the plan was to reopen the pool first in nine months time.
The other facilities, including the new fitness suite, are expected to be ready three months later.
Extend opening hours
Mr Tweedie said the refurbishment would give Brimhams Active the opportunity to redeploy staff at its other sites, which could enable some to extend their opening hours.
However, it will leave Harrogate without a council-run swimming pool for the rest of the year.
Brimhams also operates the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon, Knaresborough Pool, Starbeck Baths and Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre in Pateley Bridge.
It also operates the Turkish Baths in Harrogate, Fairfax Wellbeing and Community Hub in Harrogate, Jennyfield Styan Community Centre and Little Explorers Day Nursery at Harrogate Hydro.
Look for a full interview with Mark Tweedie about leisure services in the Harrogate district on the Stray Ferret this weekend.
Why more construction challenges lie ahead for Ripon leisure centreThere were celebrations at Ripon’s Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre this month when a multi-million pound swimming pool opened after months of costly delays.
It was hailed as a “major development” by Harrogate Borough Council, which invited the city’s three-time Olympic medalist to officially open the new facility that proudly displays his name above the main entrance.
The opening on March 2 was also welcomed by residents who were left without a pool for months after the closure of Ripon Spa Baths in November.
Jack Laugher holds his Olympic gold medal at the opening.
But attention is now turning to the outcome of an investigation into ground conditions beneath the older half of the leisure centre where an underground void was discovered in 2020.
The investigation by engineering firm Stantec could end next week and will be followed by a report setting out what reinforcement works will be required ahead of the completion of the venue’s redevelopment project, which is nine months overdue and £4million over budget, and included the new pool.
A spokesperson for the council said:
“These investigations began in February and should be finished in the coming week.
“Once they have been completed, we will have a comprehensive understanding of what is required to ensure people in Ripon can keep fit and active for years to come.
“Should remedial work be required, the final stages of the investment project – predominantly to the ground floor of the existing leisure centre – will be completed once this work has been carried out.”
The underground void was discovered in 2020, but only became public knowledge last May when the £110,000 investigation was agreed by councillors.
Read more:
This was followed by an initial report from Stantec last November which was described as “sobering reading” by council leader Richard Cooper.
‘Significant deterioration’
The report suggested there had been a “significant deterioration” of the ground beneath the older half of the leisure centre, which was built in 1995 and like much of Ripon sits on gypsum deposits.
It also said piles were not driven deep enough into the ground during the initial construction and that it remained unclear why this happened as “many critical records” were missing.
The report added strengthening works could include steelworks, thickened floors and grouting where mortar is pumped into the ground – the same method “successfully” used to stabilise the new pool.
However, it said strengthening alone is “unlikely to mitigate risks to acceptable levels” and that other measures would be required, including long-term monitoring.
The new Ripon swimming pool.
The council decided to build the pool next to the leisure centre in 2019 despite some councillors raising “deep concerns” about ground stability at the site where a sinkhole opened up the previous year.
‘Safe to use’
The council has continually insisted that professional advice has made it clear that the site is “safe to use”.
But what remains to be seen are the crucial conclusions of the ongoing investigation, which is likely to stretch the project further into this year.
Ripon Independents councillor Pauline McHardy said while she and many residents were “delighted” with the new pool, it was now key that any extra costs and delays were kept to a minimum.
She said:
“We must remember that a sinkhole appeared on the land prior to the work starting, so Harrogate Borough Council knew the risk they were taking of building on that land rather than elsewhere in Ripon.
“I hope the remainder of the work can be completed quickly and with minimal further cost to deliver the combined leisure and swimming facility that Ripon was promised.”
New Ripon playground gets thumbs-up on openingA 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.”
Read more:
Stray Ferret banned from today’s Ripon pool media openingThe 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:
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.
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
https://twitter.com/Harrogatebc/status/1497259627209236481
Ripon pool and playgrounds will not be open for half-termRipon’s multi-million pound swimming pool will not be open on time for next week’s half-term school holidays.
It and the new Dallamires children’s play area, created on site as part of the £15 million leisure development, are now expected to open next month, according to staff on site.
The play area, which can be accessed from a public footpath off Knaresborough Road, remains fenced off. A sign on the fencing says it ‘will open as soon as possible in the new year’.
The pool was due to be ready nine months ago and the project is currently £4m over budget.
In a further setback for parents and grandparents looking for places to take children next week, the Ripon City Council-owned Quarry Moor playground will not be reopening for the time being.
Long-term delay
The six-lane pool was originally due to be completed in May last year for an opening in the summer.
But ground stability issues on site that required remediation caused the initial delay and saw Harrogate Borough Council announce that the opening was going to be in November.
A weather-beaten sign at the Dallamires Play Area says it would open in ‘as soon as possible in the new year’.
A planned opening date of December 8 was subsequently announced but a fault discovered during testing of the pool’s lining, saw the council say that the opening would take place in January.
When asked if the pool would be open during the half-term holidays, a Harrogate Borough Council spokesman replied:
“A date hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
However, a woman who was hoping to take her grandchildren there next week contacted the Stray Ferret and said:
“I went to the leisure centre this week and was told by two members of staff that the pool would be opening at the start of next month.
“This is frustrating, because I had also visited the leisure centre in January to check if the pool would be open for half-term and was told by staff that it would open either later that month or the beginning of February.”
The grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, added:
“I don’t want to make a fuss, the staff at the centre were very helpful, but it was disappointing when I also asked about the new children’s playground and was told it would be opening at the same time as the pool.”
Quarry Moor playground still closed
Half a mile from the pool, the Quarry Moor playground, which closed in September because of rat infestation, still remains shut.
The Quarry Moor playground will also be closed next week
Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams, said:
“We apologise for the fact that the playground won’t be open.
“With the vermin issue under control, we had hoped that it could be back in use for the half-term holiday, but the condition of the play equipment has deteriorated.
“We need to carry out further inspection to assess if it is economical to carry out repairs, or go for a complete refurbishment with the installation of new equipment and aim to reopen in time for the Easter holidays.”
Last year, the city council set aside £70,000 for refurbishment of the playground and Cllr Williams said that additional sources of grant funding were also being explored.
Read more:
Still no opening date for Ripon’s new swimming poolThere is still no opening date for Ripon’s new swimming pool as the multi-million pound project continues to run over budget and into more construction problems.
Harrogate Borough Council had originally aimed to open the pool in May 2021, but the project is now nine months overdue and £4 million over budget.
This is after several construction problems, most recently including a fault in the lining of the pool. An underground void has also been discovered at the adjoining leisure centre site which has prompted an £110,000 investigation.
Cllr Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at the council, previously said he anticipated the pool would open in January.
But the council has now confirmed that a revised opening date has still not been set.
Speaking in December, Cllr Lumley said:
“New swimming pools go through a significant amount of testing to ensure they are safe to use for years to come and provide the best experience for the customer.
“During the testing period of the new six-lane 25-metre swimming pool at the leisure centre on Dallamires Road in Ripon, an issue was identified with the lining of the pool.
“In order to resolve this issue, Myrtha – the pool manufacturer – will be carrying out additional work, at no expense to the borough council, to prepare the pool for opening.”
Read more:
The council awarded a £10 million contract for the pool build to construction firm Willmott Dixon in January 2020. As of last month, £13,422,309 had been spent on the project with a further £584,690 allocated.
The leisure centre
This includes money spent on investigation works after the underground void was discovered at the site. It was found in 2020, but only became public knowledge last May when the investigation launched.
These works are currently underway and are likely to continue into spring.
Gypsum deposits
Initial studies suggest there has been a “significant deterioration” of the ground beneath the older half of the centre which was built in 1995 and like much of Ripon sits on gypsum deposits.
It is likely that ground strengthening works will be needed, although the council has insisted the leisure centre is still “safe to use”.
The new pool is being built as a replacement for Ripon Spa Baths which closed in November, leaving the city without a pool for the last three months.
The 116-year-old baths was put up for sale by the council in a move which sparked concerns that the venue could lose its community use and also prompted Ripon City Council to successfully apply for the building to be nominated as an asset of community value.
This protected status means any sale has now been put on hold for several months to allow time for community bids to come forward.
Brimhams Active defends its stance on £8,000 increase for use of Ripon poolThe managing director of Brimhams Active, which operates Harrogate Borough Council’s leisure centres, has defended the company’s stance on a proposed £8,000 price increase for one of its users.
This has, however, led to a clash with Ripon City Council leader, Andrew Williams.
Volunteer-run Ripon City Swimming Club (RCSC), which has been teaching children to swim for more than 100 years, said it had been priced out of using Ripon’s new swimming pool.
The club, which had previously held weekly sessions at now-closed Spa Baths at an annual cost of £4,500, told the Stray Ferret it was ‘mortified’ by a price hike to £12,500 per annum for use of the city’s newly-constructed facility, when it opens later this year,
Cllr Williams described the increase as ‘disgusting.’
This, in turn, prompted Brimhams Active managing director Mark Tweedie to contact the council leader by email, in which he said:
“For commercial, safety and quality assurance reasons we are mandated to be the sole provider of swimming lessons in the facilities we operate on behalf of the local authority.
“In this regard we have had numerous meetings and correspondence with RCSC over a significant period of time to try and come to an arrangement that would allow the club to continue to hire the pool with an adjusted offer that meets set standards and does not duplicate the Brimhams Active Learn to Swim programme.”
Read more:
In the email exchange, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, Mr Tweedie added:
“The Brimhams Active Learn to Swim programme is accredited by Swim England (the governing body for swimming). It teaches swimmers how to be competent and confident in the water through a recognised quality assured framework.
“Young people joining the scheme have the added value benefit of free access to Brimhams Active operated pools during any general swim sessions providing more opportunities to develop their swimming and love for swimming.”
‘We need to operate commercially’
He added:
“We have offered to work with and directly support the club to enable them to adjust their offer so they can continue to help young people develop their swimming without duplicating the Brimhams Active Learn to Swim programme.”
“Working with us to adjust their offer would enable the club to continue to hire the pool at the same rate they were previously paying. However, should the club want to maintain their current offer we have provided the option for them to hire the pool at a commercial rate recognising the club would be in effect competing with the Brimhams Active Learn to Swim programme.
“The club would also need to adhere to the same rigorous safety and quality standards as Brimhams Active. The commercial rate is an exclusive rate offered to the club and is based on the true costs of hiring the facility.
“We need to operate commercially in order to cover the operating costs of the facility as well as generate vital funds for the local authority to continue to be able to provide efficient and effective public services.”
‘You need to rethink’
In his response to Mr Tweedie, Cllr Williams, said:
“You state ‘for commercial’ as your first words and that is exactly the problem, you are seeking to use your position to have a monopoly on the way in which children are taught to swim by using only your lessons.
“The Ripon (City) Swimming Club have taught many children how to swim and in a way which is affordable for many hard-pressed families.
“You conclude again with the need to operate commercially. Might I remind you that the land upon which the yet to be opened pool sits was gifted to the children of Ripon for recreational use not for the commercial benefit of a soon to be defunct local authority.
“You need to urgently rethink your approach on this matter.”
Will Ripon’s new pool open this month?An opening date for Ripon’s new swimming pool has still to be announced.
Harrogate Borough Council said on November 26 that the planned opening on December 8 had been postponed to an unspecified date in January. The delay was attributed to a fault in the lining of the pool.
In mid-December, when the council announced the multi-million pound leisure protect would be named the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, in honour of the Olympic diving hero and former Ripon Grammar School student, the council said the pool would be opening “early in the new year”.
But with less than two weeks of January remaining, no opening date has been revealed.
A council spokesman told the Stray Ferret it “should have further news in the coming days”.
Ripon has been without a public swimming pool for more than two months since Spa Baths closed on November 7.
The new pool and leisure centre has been beset by historic issues of ground stability that affect the Camp Close site at Dallamires Lane. It was originally due to be completed in May 2021 and cost £10.2 million, but it is currently eight months overdue and £4 million over budget.
Read more:
Conservative councillor Stanley Lumley, the council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, and chair of the board of directors at Brimhams Active, which operates the district’s leisure centres, said at the time the fault was found:
“New swimming pools go through a significant amount of testing to ensure they are safe to use for years to come and provide the best experience for the customer.
“During the testing period of the new six-lane 25metre swimming pool at the leisure centre on Dallamires Road in Ripon, an issue was identified with the lining of the pool.
“We understand this is disappointing but would like to reassure you we are working as quickly and as thoroughly as possible to open the pool as soon as we can.”