Harrogate Council handed £141,000 to reopen High Streets

Harrogate Borough Council has been given £141,177 from the government to help reopen high streets in town centres in the district safely.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday that non-essential shops, such as clothes stores and electronic outlets, will reopen from June 15 and urged people to spend money to help the economy “bounce back”.

Now, councils across the country have been handed money from a £50 million pot to help with measures to make shopping areas safe and will be able to spend the funding from June 1.

The money is designed to fund measures such as new signs, temporary barriers, street markings and marketing campaigns to reassure people that High Streets are safe.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to spend money to help the economy when non-essential stores reopen from June 15.

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council has already put out temporary bollards in town centres across the district to widen pavements to help social distancing. The authority’s highways chief was forced to defend the measures after criticism from some traders and on social media.

The funding is expected be among the last from the European Union Regional Development Fund which is allocated to the UK Government and handed to councils. The EU fund will finish at the end of this year.

High Streets Minister Simon Clarke MP said:

“As we begin to slowly return to normality, the re-opening our high streets will be key to kick-starting our economic recovery.

“Levelling up the regions and supporting our high streets has always been central to the mission of this government.

“Many businesses have already introduced creative ways of trading such as contactless collection or taking orders by instant messaging and shows that they are ready for the challenges ahead.

“That’s why we are providing an extra £50 million for councils to support a range of safety measures that will help get these businesses back on track and ensure that people can enjoy their time visiting their local high street safely again.”

Harrogate Borough Council has been approached for comment on what it intends to spend the funding on.

New BID manager sets to work at ‘exciting time’ for Harrogate

The new interim manager of Harrogate BID wants to turn conversations and plans into real action over the coming weeks.

Simon Kent believes the money put into the BID by its levy payers – businesses in Harrogate town centre – should be put to good use in making the organisation one of achievements, not just ideas.

“It’s difficult in any organisation where you have got a board of people all with their own businesses to run,” he said. “It’s easy to sit around agreeing things, but getting things done is another matter.”

Simon Kent is interim manager at Harrogate BID

In his previous role as director of Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent (pictured above) said he was an advocate of setting up a BID in Harrogate from the outset. It was first proposed in 2017 by John Fox, at the time leading a group of volunteers to fundraise for the annual Christmas lights, and Mike Procter, president of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Kent said:

“There are lots of people in Harrogate with similar ambitions for the town. I saw the BID as a way of moving these things forward.

“It would generate money which means, rather than just ideas, you can make things happen. That has always been the driver for me: it puts the town centre businesses in charge.

“I live in Ripon and I used to live in Knaresborough. They’re smaller towns but they also have a stronger sense of community. They have parish councils that effectively become the focus for the activities. There’s no equivalent parish council in Harrogate town, so I saw the BID as slotting into that gap.”

After he helped to get the BID established in late 2018, Mr Kent was vice-chairman for the first few months while the board at the time was working on getting the organisation established and setting up its ways of working.

Only three of the current 15 board members have been in place since this time last year, with resignations including then-chairman John Fox, who stepped down at the end of 2019 and was replaced by Bob Kennedy in March. The manager appointed last July, meanwhile, left the post within four months.

Now, having had his first meeting of the current board via video last Thursday, Mr Kent says it is a happy group:

“It’s difficult, because joining an organisation where you can’t meet people face-to-face is very strange. I’ve spoken to all the board members for an hour, or two in some cases.

“I understand their aspirations for the BID and their goals. It’s interesting how aligned everybody is. There’s a number of projects and some people are advocates of some over others. There’s good, healthy debate, but everyone is focused on a common goal.”

List of priorities

For the next three months, Mr Kent’s part-time role will be to help move some of the BID’s upcoming projects forward. Although the coronavirus crisis makes it difficult to set up events, the board has a list of priorities which it will be carrying out as soon as it can. These include:

With questions raised about whether levy-payers’ contributions should be spent on work like street cleansing, Mr Kent argued that although it is a Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) responsibility, the BID’s money could complete cleansing work over and above the levels done routinely by the local authority.

Cambridge Street in Harrogate

Harrogate BID wants to prioritise street cleaning, to make the town centre attractive when shoppers return

Asked about the many groups in Harrogate and their overlapping work, such as Think Harrogate, Independent Harrogate and the proposed new destination management organisation with links to HBC and Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent said the BID would play its part alongside others.

“I think it’s an exciting time,” he said. “The key thing is that the BID brings is a bit of extra money. The businesses have put into it and there’s a responsibility to spend that money wisely on making Harrogate the best it can be.”