Harrogate Library on Victoria Avenue will close for two weeks due to building works.

The facility will be shut from 4pm on Saturday, January 22, until February 7 as maintenance is carried out at the library and customer services centre.

North Yorkshire County Council said due dates for books will be altered to take the closure into account.

Nearest alternative libraries are Bilton and Woodfield Community Library, Starbeck Community Library, Knaresborough Library and Customer Services Centre and Nidderdale Plus Community Library

 North Yorkshire County Council said:

 “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to welcoming you back to the library.”

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Harrogate energy company CNG became the victim of a global phenomenon this year when it ceased trading after 27 years.

Wholesale energy prices spiralled this year, and the impact was dramatic, with CNG one of more than 20 UK companies exiting the market.

Paul Stanley, chief executive of CNG, told the Stray Ferret the company failed because four of its main customers went out of business within two weeks, leaving it with unpaid bills.

Attempts to raise capital or sell the business were unsuccessful due to continued market volatility and high prices in the energy sector.

The company supplied about 15 to 20 retail energy companies through its wholesale business arm and also has around 50,000 business customers. About 150 jobs were lost.

CNG’s headquarters on Victoria Avenue

Swift collapse

Despite being regarded as a local success story for the majority of its 27 years, CNG’s collapse was swift and unforgiving.

Alarm bells began to ring on October 14 when Mr Stanley sent a letter to customers saying it was exiting the wholesale market. Two weeks later the company entered liquidation.

With Christmas approaching, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for staff.

A series of meetings were held between company bosses and worried employees, who had questions about redundancy pay.

Staff have been paid for November but were not expected to be offered a redundancy settlement until after Christmas through a government scheme.

A source told the Stray Ferret it was a “stressful time to have no income.”

Read more:

• In Depth: Why Harrogate success story CNG ended in collapse
• Harrogate energy firm CNG ceases trading

Administrators

CNG then entered the Supplier of Last Resort process operated by the government’s energy regulator Ofgem.

The SoLR procedure was established by Ofgem as a safety net to ensure that when a company stops supplying energy, affected customers are guaranteed continuity of supply through other companies.

However, businesses that were supplied gas by CNG were warned that their energy bills will be expected to rise.

Interpath Advisory has now been appointed as administrator, and around 30 staff are working to close the company.

CNG was also synonymous with Harrogate Town football club, becoming the first-ever sponsor of their Wetherby Road ground from 2008 until 2020 when it was rebranded the CNG Stadium.

The company was also well-known in Harrogate as a supporter of local charities and community projects.

A Victorian villa in Harrogate that was formerly a registry office and a Citizens Advice Bureau has been demolished.

Hornbeam Park Developments has planning permission to build new grade A offices on the site of Victoria Park House on Victoria Avenue.

The developer will rebuild the facade and some walls as part of the new building, which will include a two-storey extension.

It was previously owned by Harrogate Borough Council, which sold it for £1m in 2016 to help fund its move to new headquarters at Knapping Mount.

A report in 2017 said the building suffered from extensive subsidence, mould and was no longer fit-for-purpose.

Computer generated images of how the building will look.

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A plan to demolish the villa and replace it with a modern-looking office block, submitted later that year, received an objection from Historic England.

The public body said the building, which was built in 1864, “epitomises the special character and identity” of Harrogate. It said plans to demolish it would “strike at the heart” of what makes the town unique.

Plans to build this modern office block on the site were scrapped after objections.

Following this, the council said it would no longer support the application and the developer withdrew it.

New proposals, which retained the facade of the existing building, were approved in November 2018 by the council’s planning committee.

A member of staff at one of Harrogate’s biggest companies has told the Stray Ferret that it has gone into liquidation today.

The CNG Group, which is based on Victoria Avenue and employs about 180 staff, is one of numerous companies affected by the spiralling increase in wholesale gas prices.

According to the source, staff were today informed they have lost their jobs.

The company supplies about 15 to 20 retail energy companies through its wholesale business arm and also has around 50,000 business customers.

The Stray Ferret understands that CNG has entered into the Supplier of Last Resort (SOLR) system and the administration and liquidation process.

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The employee, who requested anonymity, told the Stray Ferret:

“The staff were told to stay on and help the company close, they said that there was £12 million in the pot for redundancy pay outs.

“Just a couple of days later and today they have said that we will only be entitled to statutory redundancy through the government.

“There will be plenty of staff in a tricky financial situation, some have told me they are unsure how they will be able to pay their bills while they wait for the money to come through.”

The Stray Ferret has approached the CNG Group for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

A street in central Harrogate has spent the past three working days in darkness after the power company failed to fix a fault.

Businesses on Victoria Avenue said that the constant power cuts have been very disruptive.

Northern Powergrid has been trying the fix the issue since Friday. However, businesses report that, each day, the power goes off for several hours and offices have had to close as a result.

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Many on the street are offices, but there are also opticians and dental practices which have had to cancel some appointments.

Andrew Gray, the director of Truth Legal and a landlord on the street, told the Stray Ferret that all of his tenants have gone home:

“It has been massively disruptive. I have a team of lawyers, together with five sets of tenants in this building, and they are all trying to work from home. With coronavirus some businesses are already prepared to switch to home working but there are some office staff who don’t have laptops.”

David Simister, one of the directors at Different PR, also told the Stray Ferret:

“There haven’t been this many power cuts since the Winter of Discontent. It is a nightmare to deal with but I have been able to work from home as a result. Following on from coronavirus this has been the last thing many businesses on this street need.”

Northern Powergrid’s live power map shows that 40 properties have been affected. A spokesperson said:

“We have had engineers out again today. They dug up the road to get access to the faulty cables. It will only be a temporary fix but it should stop the power going out on an intermittent basis.”