Public 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:
- Ripon leisure centre named after local Olympic hero Jack Laugher
- £28m contracts for new Knaresborough pool and Harrogate Hydro upgrades approved
- Harrogate Hydro set to close for nine months
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.
Traffic cop posts pic of ‘horrendous shed of a car’ stopped near Ripon
A Harrogate traffic constable has revealed photos of “a horrendous shed of a car” that was stopped by police near Ripon.
Traffic Constable David Minto said a colleague pulled over the Audi at Baldersby, near Ripon.
He then requested support from TC Minto, who said on his Twitter account:
“It wasn’t a difficult decision for me. All four tyres had defects. The rear offside in particular was in a dreadful state
Read more:
TC Minto added two different size tyres were fitted to the front axle and all the tyres were below the legal tread depth.
He added:
“It was a horrendous shed of a car. The driver has been reported and a court date looms.”
One person responded on Twitter to say Baldersby was an apt place for such an incident to occur, judging by the state of the tyres.
1 of 2 My colleague stopped this today on #A1M near #Baldersby #Ripon He requested support in relation to examination for a possible #PG9 #Prohibition It wasn’t a difficult decision for me… All four tyres had defects. The rear offside in particular was in a dreadful state … pic.twitter.com/s9zHTGDWxJ
— David Minto (@TC174_NYP) March 16, 2022
2 of 2 …Two different size tyres were fitted to the front axle and all were below the legal tread depth. It was a horrendous shed of a car. The driver has been reported and a court date looms #DangerousCondition #SaferRoads #RoadSafety #RoadsPolicing #ProtectingOtherRoadUsers pic.twitter.com/uwkjtSzL87
— David Minto (@TC174_NYP) March 16, 2022
Ripon Canal to feature on BBC TV tonight
The historic Ripon Canal will be featured on BBC Four this evening when Robbie Cumming completes the last leg of a 170-mile journey aboard his boat, Naughty Lass.
On Monday, viewers of Canal Boat Diaries saw the YouTube vlogger and TV presenter set off from Wigan in the first episode of the new series.
In tonight’s final episode, which starts at 730pm, he takes in the sights along the route from Knottingley to the Ripon Canal basin at the outer reaches of the English inland waterways network.
The water-borne journey, via a navigable section of the River Ouse, also features Boroughbridge Canal
Almost 250 years of history
At the time of its opening in 1773, Ripon boasted the most northerly canal basin in England at the city end of its 2.5 mile stretch.
But that claim to fame came to an end in 2002, with the opening of the Ribble Link section of the Lancaster Canal.
Just 71 years after its opening, Ripon Canal became virtually redundant overnight with the arrival of the Great Northern Railway in 1841.
Ripon provides the final entry in Robbie Cumming’s Canal Boat Diaries. Picture BBC
Barges could not compete with the new rapid delivery service for coal and other goods and with the loss of trade, the canal’s fate as a commercial enterprise was sealed.
The railways that caused the canal’s demise soon became its owner, as the waterway was purchased by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway in 1844, which subsequently become part of the North Eastern Railway in 1855.
Decades of dereliction followed and at one stage Ripon City Council mooted the idea of filling in the canal to create an extension for the Dallamires Lane Industrial estate.
Prior to this suggestion, the British Transport Commission had obtained Royal Assent for the abandonment of the Ripon Canal in 1956.
Calls for the canal’s regeneration
However, growing calls to regenerate the canal to realise its potential as a leisure and tourist asset for local residents and visitors proved successful, gaining momentum through the formation of the Ripon Canal Society.
Read more:
It reopened for navigation as far as Littlethorpe Road Bridge in 1986 and was officially reopened right into the centre of Ripon in September 1996, with the assistance of the society and local authorities and with funding from English Partnerships.
Further improvements have been brought about through a programme of work carried out by Ripon Motor Boat Club, which has its marina and clubhouse on a section of the canal near Littlethorpe.
The waterway is now managed by the Canal and River Trust, which is the charity that succeeded British Waterways. It was awarded a Green Flag for its water quality in July 2018 and the improvements have brought more wildlife to its banks. Otters are regularly spotted hunting for fish.
Previous episodes of Canal Boat Diaries can be seen on BBC iPlayer.
Traffic and Travel Alert: Melmerby Green Lane road closure starts this morning
A road closure on Melmerby Green Lane near Ripon starts this morning.
Between 7.30am and 5.30pm on Thursday and Friday, a section of Melmerby Green Lane, between the A61 and Barker Business Park, will be shut for carriageway repairs.
As previously reported by the Stray Ferret, the road is being closed for works carried out by North Yorkshire County Council.
North Yorkshire County Council’s highways team, said:
“Drivers will be able to follow a diversion route to avoid Melmerby Green Lane while the work is in progress and there will also be advance notifications on the A1.”
The Stray Ferret has changed the way it offers Traffic and Travel alerts.
We will now notify you instantly through app notifications and flash tweets when there is an urgent alert. This could include heavy traffic, dangerous weather and long delays or cancellations of public transport.
The alerts are sponsored by The HACS Group.
Ripon Arcade signs contract on final two unitsRipon Arcade signs contract on final two units
Ripon Arcade is now fully occupied after Yorkshire Physio and Gladrags Ripon signed contracts on the final two units.
The arcade, in the heart of the city, recently underwent a £100,000 refurbishment. The 16,484 sq ft arcade was bought by Bradford-based property development and investment company Frank Marshall Estates off a guide price of £2.2m from the Westcourt Group in 2019.
Other occupiers of Ripon Arcade include North Yorkshire County Council and retailers, such as Scriven Opticians, Home Bargains, the British Heart Foundation and Westwood’s Barbershop and Social.
Edward Marshall, director of Frank Marshall Estates, said:
“It gives us great pleasure to welcome our two new tenants to the arcade and to announce that the arcade is full. We believe our sensitive refurbishment has given the arcade a new identity, making it much more visible and more of an attraction.
“Ripon is a sleeping giant and we are delighted that our attractive, new-look development has given the city centre the game-changing regeneration boost it needed.”
“Retail has suffered the worst period in history over the last two years but we are now seeing a strong recovery, especially in the smaller towns and cities like Ripon. People want to shop locally and, in a place like Ripon, this means in the Market Square and the Arcade.”
Harrogate law firm offers free wills in return for charity donations
Harrogate law firm LCF Law is offering people the chance to make a will for free in exchange for a donation to a local charity.
Throughout April, the law firm will draft wills in support of Saint Michael’s Hospice. It is part of the charity’s ‘make a will month’ fundraiser, which LCF Law has supported for the past four years.
The law firm hopes to raise a significant amount for the hospice. Head of personal law, Neil Shaw, said:
“According to various polls, around 60% of adults don’t have a will, so we hope that our offer to draft a will for free will help those who haven’t got one, as well as supporting the wonderful work that Saint Michael’s Hospice does. So many of us have family, friends and colleagues who have been supported by the hospice and we are more than happy to play a part in raising vital funds.”
The fundraiser also give people the opportunity to leave a donation in their will to Saint Michael’s Hospice. One in five of the charity’s patients are cared for thanks to gifts left in wills.
There 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:
- Swimming club ‘mortified’after Harrogate council hikes fee for new pool
- Sinkhole experts urge councillors to consider new site for Ripon pool
- Ripon Leisure Centre: Harrogate council plans 3D soil map amid sinkhole fears
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:
Drivers heading to Melmerby business parks braced for ‘crazy’ road closure“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.”
Traffic problems are expected this week when the principal route to and from two of the Harrogate district’s busiest business parks is closed for two days.
Between 7.30am and 5.30pm on Thursday and Friday, an eight-tenths of a mile section of Melmerby Green Lane, between the A61 and Barker Business Park, will be shut for carriageway repairs.
The daytime work on those days presents a huge headache for heavy goods vehicle drivers because the so-far un-signed detour route from both business parks will inevitably mean drivers will have to turn left towards the village of Melmerby on a road which has a 7.5 ton weight limit on it.
The weight limit sign on the approaches to Melmerby
HGV drivers making deliveries at both business parks were scratching their heads when the Stray Ferret visited. One said:
“I haven’t a clue where the diversion route will take me, but if I have to turn left and head towards Melmerby, the size of my lorry means I will have to break the weight limit.”
Another HGV driver said:
“This is a crazy situation, Thursdays and Fridays are two of the busiest days of the week for deliveries.
“Why couldn’t they have planned the roadworks at night, like they did with the work on the Ripon bypass bridge?”
North Yorkshire County Council’s highways team, says:
“Drivers will be able to follow a diversion route to avoid Melmerby Green Lane while the work is in progress and there will also be advance notifications on the A1.”
Within 100 yards of the Potter Space business park is the weight limit sign
NYCC’s highways area manager Melisa Burnham, said:
“We appreciate there will be some disruption involved and have done everything possible to minimise that, with a fully-signed diversion and advance warnings on the A1, particularly aimed at HGV drivers who may be heading to the business park.
“We are pleased to be carrying out work on Melmerby Green Lane and the road will be safer and better to use when it is complete.
More information is available on the roadworks map at www.northyorks.gov.uk/roadworks-map
Read more:
- Night time working to minimise disruption on Ripon bypass
- Double delay for Kirkby Malzeard road users
Ripon pub set to close this weekend
The Black A Moor Inn near Ripon is to close on Friday after six years under the current landlords.
The inn, based in Bridge Hewick, announced its impending closure on social media today.
In a Facebook post, it said:
“To all of our lovely supporters, it is with a heavy heart that we have to announce that we have made the very hard decision to close.
“We’ll be open for a few drinks on Friday evening at 7pm for a last hurrah and we hope to see as many of you as we can. We’ll be in contact with upcoming reservations over the next few days.
“Thank you to everyone for all your support over the last 6 years.
“Love from all of the team.”
The inn’s website is no longer live but on its social media, it describes itself as a “relaxed, family-run pub and restaurant”.
The inn also has five en-suite rooms and hosted functions.
The Stray Ferret has approached the inn for a comment but hadn’t received a reply by the time of publication.
Read more:
- Proceeds from the sale of Ripon’s Spa Baths ‘must not go to Harrogate’
- Ripon man auctions 255 bottles of whisky for Falklands veterans
Harrogate district unemployment continues to fall
The number of people receiving out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has fallen again.
Latest monthly figures by the Office for National Statistics show 2,080 people were claiming the benefits on February 10, falling by 55 from January’s figure of 2,135.
The figure, however, remains considerably above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits, which includes Universal Credit.
Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.
Across the UK, 4.3% of all adults are claiming the benefits. In the Harrogate district, it is 2.3%.
Read more:
- Three teens on Harrogate Theatre roof plead guilty to causing £800 damage
- Police appeal after ducks stolen in Hampsthwaite
In a boost for jobs in the district, a 600,000 square feet business park approved was approved last week by Harrogate Borough Council.
The business park will be called ‘Harrogate 47’ because it will be built at Flaxby close to junction 47 of the A1 (M). The developer Opus North believes it could support 2,000 jobs.
It is allocated as the main strategic employment site in the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which identifies where development can take place.
Harrogate still a ‘top priority’ for bus improvements despite funding warningHarrogate will remain a top priority for bus service improvements, a council official has said despite warnings the region could be left with little or no funding from the government’s Bus Back Better scheme.
Michael Leah, assistant director for transport and environment at North Yorkshire County Council, told an executive meeting today it was “unlikely” the authority would receive all of the £116million it bid and there was a possibility it could get no funding at all.
This comes after the government wrote to councils in January highlighting how its £3billion budget to “transform” bus services had more than halved to £1.4billion.
Mr Leah told today’s meeting:
“The overall availability of funding has reduced and therefore expectation has dampened across the county.
“If we are to get a number, it will unlikely be £116million.”
Mr Leah explained that any funding received would be prioritised to areas where the county council believes it is needed the most, including Harrogate which has the worst traffic congestion in North Yorkshire.
Ripon and Masham also ‘high on list’ for support
He said the on-demand bus service, YorBus, which allows app users to book and track journeys in Ripon and Masham, would also be high on the list for financial support. He added:
“If we were to not get any funding, there are still parts of our enhanced partnerships scheme which we could see through, such as better bus timetable information and more coordinated work with operators.
“It’s not just about the money.”
The county council unveiled its Bus Service Improvement Plan in October with proposals for more bus lanes, cash support for existing and new services and a simpler ticketing system.
Crucially, the aim is for services to cover the whole of North Yorkshire – something which has been described as an “enormous challenge” for England’s largest county.
It is hoped these targets will be also met through so-called enhanced partnerships where the county council will agree to infrastructure improvements in return for better services from bus companies.
Electric buses
Separately, the county council has also bid for £8million of government cash to make all of Harrogate Bus Company’s fleet electric.
If successful, the company’s parent firm Transdev would contribute £11.5million towards the costs of buying 39 zero-emission buses.
Read more:
- Free school cycling lessons to be ended in North Yorkshire
- Otley Road cycle route progress ‘appalling’, says cycle group
The different plans are all part of the overall aim to solve Harrogate’s congestion woes by encouraging people out of their cars and onto public transport.
But the scale of the challenge can be seen in figures which show just 6% of short commuting trips within Harrogate before the pandemic were on a bus – and that this was decreasing year-on-year.
And while Harrogate is the most populated area in North Yorkshire and is being seen as a priority for investment, the county council has been urged not to forget other parts of the county, particularly rural communities.
Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, responded to say improvements to rural bus services have formed the “backbone” of the Bus Service Improvement Plan:
“There are huge challenges in providing affordable transport to a county as large as our own.
“But without question, one of the priorities we have is to improve bus services in rural areas, whether by traditional or more modern means as has been the case with YorBus.”