Strayside Sunday: That sinking feeling in Ripon

Strayside Sunday is our monthly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

Hitherto I haven’t found it necessary to use this column to discuss matters of geology. However, recent events in Ripon have forced my hand. 

It turns out that Ripon is built on ground heavy in gypsum; chemical formula CaSO 4·2H₂O.  Gypsum, Wikipedia informs, is a soft sulphate mineral composed of calcium sulphate dihydrate. The dihydrate bit is important to this story because it means 2 crystalised molecules of water. 

By the way, gypsum is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard/sidewalk chalk, and drywall; just FYI. It should not be confused with flotsam, the wreckage that remains afloat when a ship has sunk, or with jetsam, the cargo thrown overboard from a ship in distress.

Currently, neither gypsum, flotsam nor jetsam would be able to float in Ripon Spa baths.  Alongside the leisure centre to which they are attached, the new baths remain shut, while the works to build them and to upgrade the adjoining leisure centre are delayed. It seems that a large void (a sinkhole to you and me) has opened on the leisure centre site.  It turns out that Ripon’s new leisure centre and baths is being built on ground with obvious stability issues.  You see, when crystalised dihydrate is exposed to the right conditions (water and heat), it dissolves and leaks away, creating a hole in the ground. Let’s hope and trust that, when eventually completed, Ripon baths don’t leak.

Read more:

Chartered Geologist Dr. Alan Thompson has written to Harrogate Borough Council to warn them of the inadequacies of the ground investigations undertaken so far and of the ongoing risk of subsidence. In his letter he expresses his support of the concerns raised by Ripon resident and Chartered Engineer Stanley Mackintosh “regarding the ongoing risk subsidence, the inadequacy of recent ground investigations, and the prospects of instability being exacerbated by the techniques being used”. I hope that the council takes note of those serious and legitimate concerns. My fear is that they won’t,

The void itself needs to be remediated at a cost of £110,000 of Her Majesty’s Pounds Sterling and the council’s insurers need to be reassured that the £3 million plus they have underwritten the site for is based on, ahem, sound footings. Meanwhile, notwithstanding Freedom of Information requests from the Ferret’s intrepid staff, HBC continue to hold the line that the final costs for the leisure centre are commercially sensitive and will therefore remain confidential.  I bet they are.  For ‘commercially sensitive’ read expensive, over-budget and wasteful. If they are not, then what does the council have to hide and gain from confidentiality?

Meanwhile it transpires that the council has again awarded a large single source contract, without competitive tender, for the design work of a new leisure centre in Knaresborough and for the refurbishment of Harrogate Hydro. Alliance Leisure are to be paid £2,107,161 for the eleven months of work on the £26 million projects. 

Eyebrows have been raised all around the district because Alliance hail not from our local economy but rather from Somerset. The contract to build our facilities has, in short, been awarded to “comers-in”. It won’t do. Still, I suppose local hostelries will benefit from a rise in cider sales and will need to stock up on Cheddar. No doubt Alliance is a fine company but, in all seriousness, awarding their contract this way is yet another example of a council that doesn’t know how to behave. It is secretive, arrogant and unaccountable.

Meanwhile, the good people of Starbeck find their own historic baths remain shuttered.  The council blame staff shortages and the difficulties of operating ‘covid-safe’ for its continued closure.  No re-opening date has been announced and fears are rising that the council plan to close the baths permanently and sell the site for development. I’ve written here before about the potential dangers of spinning off the district’s leisure facilities into a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC). In the pursuit of a commercial approach to running the show there will, by definition, be winners and losers. That’s what makes it commercial. In my view leisure is a public good and ought to be operated by the council as such so that it offers universal access to all the district’s residents.  

Each year the NHS spends roughly £60 billion, roughly 40% of its budget, on treating people for avoidable chronic health conditions. Physical activity is a modifiable risk factor for up to 50 chronic conditions, from obesity to diabetes, from cardio-pulmonary disorder to heart failure. And we know that those suffering from these illnesses have disproportionately borne the brunt of both Covid-19 serious illness and mortality. The bottom line is this; the less well off in our society suffer striking health inequality, the costs for which we all bare. We must make getting people active a local as well as a national priority.  We should be opening more leisure facilities, not closing them.  If we don’t then we will be building on gypsum, not just in Ripon, but across the district.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.    

Read more:

 

Calls to reopen Starbeck Baths heat up as restrictions ease

Local residents have called for Starbeck Baths to reopen this month.

With temperatures soaring, and schoolchildren on half-term, many families in the Harrogate district are keen to go swimming. But the Starbeck pool remains closed — and no reopening date has been announced.

Harrogate Borough Council has said that, due to the nature of the historic building, it would be difficult to open with coronavirus restrictions in place.

But with the lifting of restrictions on June 21 approaching, residents believe there should be no further barriers in the way of reopening and want to keep up the pressure.

Staffing may still be an issue for the baths though. The Stray Ferret understands a number of employees have either left or been seconded to new roles.

The reopening debate has raged since last summer but heated up further last month when Ripon Spa Baths re-opened, which is also based in an old building with limited space.

Harrogate Borough Council said Starbeck Baths would open “shortly” after Ripon Spa Baths but there has been no word since on an opening date.

Read more:

The ongoing uncertainty is frustrating residents, including Chris Watt, who told the Stray Ferret:

“My little boy, who I used to bring here every Saturday, has been missing his swimming lessons for the last 18 months.

“I think now is exactly the time to be reopening the baths. The council said before that it would reopen in May but here we are in June and we still do not have a date.

“Local residents would be delighted if the baths reopened. It’s really well-used and massively valued.”

Philip Broadbank, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harrogate Starbeck on Harrogate Borough Council, added:

“I have been lobbying on the issue for the last year. I do not understand why the baths were able to open in Ripon but not here, they have the same layout.

“The council officers tell me they are now waiting for the next government announcement for the next stage in the roadmap. They tell me they want to reopen it as soon as possible.”

Stuart Rhodes, a committee member on Starbeck Residents Association, said:

“I am disappointed that the baths are not open yet and so are the school children.

“I understand for Harrogate Borough Council that it is not easy but it is frustrating.”

Councillor Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport at Harrogate Borough, said in April:

“We are hoping to open Ripon Pool in May and providing we have got staff availability, very soon after that we will be opening Starbeck.

“Staff shortages are a problem – there was no point recruiting stuff during the pandemic for obvious reasons and now we are on a campaign to recruit.

“We do hope to open the pools as soon as possible… providing nothing changes with government guidelines or we have any serious staffing shortages.”

Last month the council said there were no updates and there have been no announcements since.

Starbeck Baths: frustration grows over re-opening uncertainty

It doesn’t look like anyone will be jumping into Starbeck Baths anytime soon, as there is still no news of a reopening date.

Starbeck Baths is one of five pools run by Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate Hydro and Nidderdale Pool reopened when government guidelines permitted on April 12.

Ripon Spa Baths opened last Friday but Starbeck Baths and Knaresborough Pool remain closed.

Last month Stanley Lumley, the council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, said he hoped both Ripon and Starbeck pools would reopen in May, with Starbeck “very soon after”.

But with less than a fortnight of May remaining, there have been no further updates.

When the Stray Ferret asked the council for an update on Starbeck yesterday, a spokesman said there was no further news.

The uncertainty is frustrating for local residents, including Chris Watt, who said:

“After being told in April, following pressure from local residents, that our pool would re-open this month, it’s really disappointing that no date has yet been confirmed.

“It feels like the council are backtracking and in the meantime children are missing out on their swimming lessons and adults losing the physical and mental health benefits of a swim.

With Knaresborough pool also closed, there is nowhere with easy access via public transport for Starbeck people to use.”

The Starbeck Residents Association previously told the Stray Ferret the pool “should be kept open at all costs” and that it feared covid was being used as an “excuse” to keep it closed.

The 150-year-old building is often used by local schools and residents.

Maintenance work at Knaresborough Pool, due to be carried out by specialist engineers from Spain, has been halted by travel restrictions.

However, the council has said it was trying to find a UK-based firm to fix the problem. No date for its reopening has been announced.

Read more:

 

Ripon Spa Baths opens after more than a year closed

Ripon Spa Baths has reopened today (May 14) after more than a year of closures caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

It was forced to close in March 2020 when the first lockdown came into force and has stayed shut until today due to its staff supporting frontline council services stretched by the pandemic.

All swimming pools, leisure centres and gyms were allowed to reopen last month when other Harrogate Borough Council-run sites including the Hydro, Nidderdale Pool and Ripon Leisure Centre made a return.

However, Knaresborough Pool and Starbeck Baths are still shut, and it remains unclear when they will reopen.

Read more:

This is because maintenance works at Knaresborough Pool due to be carried out by specialist engineers from Spain have been halted by travel restrictions, the council previously said, although it added it was trying to find a UK-based firm to fix the problem.

Cllr Stanley Lumley, the council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, previously said it was hoped Starbeck Baths would reopen shortly after Ripon Spa Baths but a date has yet to be announced.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

“I’m delighted we have now been able to reopen Ripon Spa Baths and we are keen to get every other site open as soon as possible.

“With the challenge of staff being redeployed into frontline services, we are now getting our leisure services back up and running slowly but surely. We are running a strong recruitment campaign to fill the shortfall of staff and that is well on its way.

“We have also now ordered the equipment needed for the repairs at Knaresborough Pool and while reopening will be longer than we had hoped, we are keenly progressing.”

The return of Ripon Spa Baths will be welcome news for swimmers but the building’s future is shrouded in uncertainty.

Read more:

Harrogate council has put the 116-year-old baths up for sale despite protests that it could lose its community use if snapped up by a private developer.

Groups including Ripon City Council, Ripon Civic Society and Ripon Together have called for the sale to be suspended to allow more time for proposals to be brought forward, but their protests have been rejected.

A spokesperson for Harrogate council previously said:

“We have no plans to withdraw the sale of Ripon Spa Baths.

“The building will soon become surplus to our requirements and we do not have the resources to maintain it.

“Selling the baths for redevelopment, subject to planning permission and listed building consents, would allow this local asset to be given a new lease of life, retain its key features and remain as a city landmark.

“Ripon City Council, or another interested party, is welcome to submit a bid.”

The spokesperson also said the building is being sold because it will no longer be needed by the authority when the refurbishment of Ripon Leisure Centre is completed later this year.

The multi-million-pound upgrades were due to be completed earlier in 2021 but have been hit by construction and Covid delays.

The spokesperson added:

“Our strategy of disposing of assets no longer required means we have been able to invest more than £10 million in Ripon.

“The city’s new state-of-the-art, bigger, and better swimming pool and refurbished leisure centre will open at the end of this year.”

Ripon Spa Baths gets date to reopen in May

Harrogate Borough Council has confirmed that Ripon Spa Baths will reopen to the public on May 14.

The council posted on its Twitter account that the pool would be open for lane swimming and family sessions two weeks today.

It said the sessions must be pre-booked and can only be 45 minutes long.

Earlier this month, Councillor Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, had said he hoped to open Ripon Spa Baths and Starbeck Baths in May.

Neither pool reopened on April 12, when covid regulations allowed. The council said this was due to staff shortages and difficulties around social distancing.

Its other pools, including the Harrogate Hydro and Nidderdale Pool, reopened this month. Knaresborough Pool remains closed for urgent repairs.

Ripon city councillors had campaigned for Ripon Spa Baths to be saved after ‘for sale’ boards went up in March and questions were raised over the future of Starbeck Baths when it remained closed.

Cllr Lumley has previously said Starbeck’s pool would be opened “very soon after” Ripon Spa Baths, but the council is yet to confirm a date.

Read more:

 

Starbeck Baths should be ‘kept open at all costs’, say residents

Starbeck Residents Association has expressed concern that Harrogate Borough Council is “using covid as an excuse” not to re-open Starbeck Baths.

The baths, along with two other council-run pools, failed to reopen last week when lockdown restrictions eased.

With no date given for reopening, questions are being asked about the future of the 150-year-old building, which is used by local schools and residents.

Stuart Rhodes, a member of the association’s committee, said:

“We should keep it open at all costs. As a piece of architecture, history and a way of keeping Harrogate fit, it is vital.

“There is a worry covid is being used as an excuse to keep it closed.”

Read more:

The future of the baths has been a contentious issue in recent weeks. The local councillor is asking for a better explanation for its continued closure.

Mr Rhodes said the pool’s future had been debated on previous occasions but each time a “community backlash” led to it staying open.

The association has considered applying for the building to get listed status to help preserve its future.

A council spokeswoman said the layout of the baths meant it cannot adhere to current government guidelines.

She added:

“Starbeck Baths remains an important facility amongst the leisure services we provide.

“Due to the unique layout of the building, and the government’s existing social distancing measures, we are currently unable to open the baths.

“We are waiting for the government to publish future social distancing rules which will dictate how quickly we can reopen.”

Questions over Starbeck Baths as council fails to give opening date

Questions are being asked over the continued closure of Starbeck Baths. The 150 year old pool has yet to open after restrictions were eased a week ago.

Harrogate Borough Council said it is waiting for further government guidance regarding social distancing. It said the layout and age of the building makes it more difficult to reopen than larger venues.

With Knaresborough pool in need of repairs and the opening of the new facility in Ripon delayed, much of the district has no swimming facilities after lockdown eased.

This August all of the district’s baths will move under the control of the council’s arms-length company, Brimham’s Active.

As part of the reorganisation, a council report released last summer said “the future of Starbeck Baths would need to be considered” which led to suspicion it would be closed permanently.

The Liberal Democrat Starbeck ward councillor, Philip Broadbank said he wants a better explanation as to why it’s still closed.

He said:

“Without a pool in Knaresborough we need to have something on this side. I can’t see why its not open. Of course you do become concerned that it’s been so long and it’s an old pool and this would be the way to close it but I have been assured it will be reopened as soon as practically possible. It’s needed now more than ever.”

Read more:

The four-lane pool is the second oldest council-run pool in the UK and pre-covid was very popular with local residents.

Some have taken to social media to question its continued closure including Chris Watt who said on Twitter “I hope Harrogate Borough Council reopen Starbeck pool soon. Our little boy has been missing is swimming lessons over the last year and it’s a great community asset.”

When the Stray Ferret asked the council about Starbeck Baths it said:

“We are waiting for the government to publish guidance on future social distancing rules which will dictate how quickly we can reopen Starbeck Baths.

“There are no plans to close Starbeck Baths.”

Previously, the council leader Richard Cooper has said whilst in leadership the Baths would not be closed.

A Freedom of Information request by The Stray Ferret, last year, showed the bill for running the baths increased from £234,193 in 2018/19 to an estimated £239,370 last year.

Watch Harrogate man in World’s Strongest Man final on TV tonight

He conquered Europe in 2020 and tonight you can see how Harrogate’s Luke Richardson fared when he lined up against the best strongmen in the world.

Luke, 23, was one of 10 men in the final of the World’s Strongest Man, which is being broadcast on Channel 5 at 7.30pm.

The event took place in Florida in November and the Stray Ferret revealed last month how Luke fared.

If you want to know, you can type his name into the search function on our website but as many people don’t want the outcome spoiled, we won’t mention it here.

Whatever happened, 2020 was a remarkable year for Luke, a former lifeguard at Starbeck Baths who only transitioned from powerlifting to strongman just over a year ago.

He finished fourth at Britain’s Strongest Man and won Europe’s Strongest Man, which was held at Allerton Castle, near Knaresborough.

Read more:

All these events have been broadcast on Channel 5, providing huge national exposure for Luke over the festive season. He has 64,000 followers on Instagram.

Luke was one of 40 men who qualified for the World’s Strongest Man.

He finished second in his heat, which was shown on TV on Boxing Day, to American Jerry Pritchett to book his place in tonight’s final.

The final includes events such as the keg toss, Hercules hold, deadlift and the Atlas stones.

Luke has lived in Harrogate all of his life. He attended Starbeck Community Primary School and Harrogate High School and now trains at Absolute Fitness in Boroughbridge and LR Strength Shed in Wetherby, which he and training partner Richard Parish opened.

‘I will not close Starbeck Baths’, vows council leader

The leader of Harrogate Borough Council has said he will not close Starbeck Baths after approving a shake-up of the district’s leisure services.

Residents in Starbeck vowed to fight any future threat to the 150-year-old baths after a council officer report suggested the facility’s future “would need to be considered”.

But council leader Richard Cooper said he has made it clear that it will not close under his leadership.

It comes as the borough council’s cabinet voted to set up a new company to run services, including Starbeck, as part of an overhaul of leisure and sport.

The council said the move would help to save around £400,000 a year on services. Starbeck Baths were among the facilities which increased in cost year on year.

Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet addressed the fears over Starbeck Baths at a virtual meeting on YouTube last night.

A Freedom of Information request by The Stray Ferret showed the bill for running the baths increased from £234,193 in 2018/19 to an estimated £239,370 last year.

In a report before cabinet, the council estimated that it would save around £191,000 a year without Starbeck following investment and redevelopment of its other leisure facilities.

Read more:

Cllr Cooper said at the meeting streamed live on YouTube that he would not close the facility and the authority was being open with the costs of the baths:

“While I sit here, we are not closing Starbeck Baths and in any case it is not part of the plans. 

“It is just telling people how much things cost because we want people to know.”

Meanwhile, Michael Constantine, head of culture, tourism and sport, said the move was not a “stalking horse” and that any closure would need a separate council decision.

But Pat Marsh, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said the she would rather Cllr Cooper had made a whole council commitment to Starbeck:

“I am pleased to hear the comments and to give the people that reassurance, but are we still going to have him as leader in a few years’ time?

“It would have been better if he had said: ‘This council will not close Starbeck Baths’.”

Last night, senior councillors voted to set up Brimham’s Active to run its leisure services which cost the taxpayer £3.5 million in the last financial year.

The authority will also borrow £26 million from the government’s Public Works Loans Board to fund an investment strategy into the Harrogate Hydro and a new leisure centre in Knaresborough.

The new company is expected to be operating by August 2021 and will cost the council £300,000 to set up.

Harrogate District leisure services cost taxpayers £3.5 million a year

Swimming pools, leisure and community centres in the Harrogate District are operating at a loss of more than £3.5 million a year.

According to a Freedom of Information request by The Stray Ferret, services run by Harrogate Borough Council are expected to cost the taxpayer £3,585,980 in 2019/20 and some facilities have increased in cost year on year.

Most facilities which are set to be handed over to a new council-owned company as part of proposals by the borough council are expected to make a loss.

The figures show that the Harrogate Hydro is the most expensive facility and is expected to cost £1,014,960 for the last year.

The total expenditure for the Hydro is estimated to be £2,168,140 in 2019/20 with an income of £1,153,180. The majority of the cost comes from staffing and additional expenses which accounts for £817,660 and £1.25 million of the bill.

Among the facilities and their cost were:

Read more:

Meanwhile, attendances at both facilities fell over the course of 12 months. The Hydro saw its attendances drop from 341,886 in 2018/19 to 322,889 last year.

The expenditure for the Harrogate Hydro as set out by Harrogate Borough Council.

It comes as the authority’s cabinet will vote on handing over services to an arms-length company called Brimham’s Active on Wednesday in order to save money.

If given the go-ahead, it would mean facilities such as Harrogate Hydro, the Turkish Baths and Ripon Leisure Centre would be run by the new company.

But the plan has been met with opposition by the community in Starbeck and was criticised by unions last week over its consultation response.

How will Brimham’s Active save money?

The total cost of running leisure services will beg the question as to whether or not the new company can make a dent in its overall loss every year.

According to a council report due before senior councillors, the company would save money through VAT benefits, business rates relief and investment in new and existing pools.

The council estimates that the company, which has a target set up date of August 2021, will save the authority around £284,000 a year which would potentially rise to £585,000 after investment in facilities.

The authority said around £222,000 a year would be saved in rate relief and £76,000 in VAT benefits as a result of handing services over to the company.

Meanwhile, the new company would have project start up costs of £300,000 which would be funded from the council’s investment reserves.