Teenagers in Ripon have said they are glad they can continue using the city’s skatepark during the summer holidays.

While large areas of the Camp Close site on Knaresborough Road have been fenced off for safety reasons, access to the skatepark and basketball court remains open.

One teenager skateboarder spoke for his friends when he said:

“It’s a bit of a pain having to walk all the way around the outside to get here, but I’m pleased we can still use it.”

The skatepark and basketball court are adjacent to the 28-year-old leisure centre building, where remediation works on unstable foundations are under way.

The playing fields at Camp Close are now an active building site where large machinery is in use, carrying out the £3.5 million project behind large yellow hoardings.

There are numerous signs warning the public not to enter the area, while other signs call for parents to keep children out. CCTV cameras are also in operation.

However, as well as the many warning signs, construction company Willmott Dixon has installed one showing the route into the skatepark.

In this article, which is part of a series on the 12 stories in the Harrogate district that shaped 2022, we look at the ongoing saga over Ripon leisure centre, its delays and increasing costs.

The end is in sight for Harrogate Borough Council — but will decisions it made about building a new Ripon swimming pool and refurbishing the existing leisure centre at Dallamires Lane come back to haunt council tax payers after the authority’s abolition in April?

Money already spent on the project stands at £14.5 million and still to be added is £3.5 million for extra ground stabilisation on site and a further £300,000 for a temporary gym due to open in the New Year.

The contract awarded to construction company Willmott Dixon in November 2019 was for delivery of the new pool and refurbished centre in May 2021 at a cost of £10.2 million. But the need for ground stabilisation works ahead of the pool’s construction added to the cost and caused delays.

The subsequent discovery in September 2020 of a ‘void’ close to the leisure centre entrance led to an investigation by engineering consultancy Stantec which identified ground stability issues under the leisure centre and a requirement for extensive remediation works to keep the building in use.

Opening of the temporary gym will enable the 27-year-old centre building to be vacated while work is carried out to shore up its foundations, but HBC has indicated that the need for more funding may be identified when this is underway.

The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, including a newly-constructed six lane swimming pool, opened in March – more than nine months behind the original schedule

A report to a meeting of council’s cabinet in August said the authority had made “every effort to provide an accurate estimate” of the costs of the remediation works but added these could rise further once the ground stability works begin.

Concerns raised by Ripon City Council

Ripon City Council raised concerns about the costs for the additional ground stabilisation and called for an end to the spending on the multi-million pound project and for HBC to fully investigate other options, including building a new leisure centre at a different location where ground conditions are stable.

At its full meeting in October, Independent city council leader Andrew Williams, said the works would take the total spending on the project at Dallamires Lane to £18 million – some £8 million above the original budget.

He added:

“They (HBC) can’t continue ploughing money into this site, with its known history of ground stability issues, including a sinkhole that opened up on the leisure centre car park in 2018.”

Response from Harrogate Borough Council

The call to search for an alternative location for the centre has been rejected by the borough council. A spokesperson for the council, said:

“Building a new leisure centre at another site in Ripon would cost a significant amount of money and would result in two separate facilities to maintain, two sets of running and staffing costs, for example.

“It would also involve purchasing land in a suitable location that we don’t currently have, going through the planning application process and disposing of the existing building safely, all of which would take time and a considerable amount of money. And there is no guarantee that a different site wouldn’t have similar ground conditions.

“Co-location of both wet and dry leisure facilities is also important for increasing and sustaining participation in exercise, as well as optimising revenue and cost recovery.

“The new gym combined with the pool on one site is proving to be extremely popular, and will be further complemented by two new activity studios, sports hall, a spin studio as well as meeting facilities.”

The spokesperson added:

“Our consulting engineer has advised that a do-nothing approach is not advised. And although there is no immediate change in the geological risk profile to the building – that was originally built in 1995 and has provided sport and leisure services for more than 25 years – it is recommended that ground stabilisation works are undertaken to ensure people in Ripon can keep fit and active for years to come.”

Read more:

• Ground remediation work at Ripon leisure centre to cost £3.5 million
• City council calls for an end to spending on Ripon leisure scheme

The older half of Ripon Leisure Centre would have to permanently close unless newly-approved groundworks costing £3.5 million are carried out, a council official has said.

Trevor Watson, director of economy, environment and housing at Harrogate Borough Council, made the statement at a cabinet meeting last night when councillors agreed to the remedial works on underground voids found at the site.

Mr Watson also stressed that the leisure centre’s new swimming pool – which opened in March – is unaffected by what is planned and will remain open throughout. He said:

“We really do need to seek to address the ground conditions.

“If we chose not to do the work, then the reality is we wouldn’t be reopening the leisure centre.”

Mr Watson added the underground voids are believed to have been present for several years and were not caused by building works for the new pool.

The discovery during the pool construction in 2020 prompted an investigation by an engineering firm which this month revealed the extent of the ground stability issues at the site.

Read more:

• Expert urges council to stop ‘pouring money’ into Ripon leisure centre
• Report reveals extent of ground issues at Ripon Leisure Centre

Stantec found “significantly weak” areas of ground beneath the older half of the leisure centre built in 1995 and also warned that not carrying out groundworks would be “unacceptable from a public safety perspective”.

The works due to start in December mean more costs and delays for the venue’s new pool and refurbishment project which is believed to have cost in excess of £18 million so far.

The original contract awarded to construction company Willmott Dixon was worth £10.2 million for the scheme originally due for completion in May 2021.

The project was approved in 2019 despite some councillors raising “deep concerns” over ground issues at the site where a sinkhole opened up the previous year.

Cllr Swift speaking at last night’s meeting.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader of the council, said it was “good fortune” that the underground voids were discovered before a more serious collapse could have occurred.

He said:

“As a result of the fact that technologies have improved over the last 25 years, we have learnt a lot more about what is under the leisure facility.

“This is actually good fortune as it is good to know now. If we hadn’t had the swimming pool, we wouldn’t have discovered this until a genuine incident.”

Cllr Swift also said it was “very exciting” that a temporary gym is planned for the leisure centre car park during the groundworks which will close parts of the venue for at least 10 months from November.

The temporary gym will cost an additional £300,000, while the pool will remain open.

The leisure centre is reported to now have more than 14,000 members since the pool opened, generating around £34,000 a month which the council said will help offset some of the groundwork costs.

After these works are carried out, the refurbishment is scheduled for completion in spring 2024.

The children of Ripon are paying the price for Harrogate Borough Council’s ‘incompetent handling’ of the multi-million pound leisure centre project.

That’s the view of Ripon City Council, which backed a call from Independent leader Andrew Williams for immediate action to make the overgrown playing fields at the Camp Close site useable in time for the summer holidays.

Councillors also called for barriers, restricting access to the bike and skate park on site, to be removed so that proper access is restored. Some fencing has been forced down by young people wanting to use the facility (pictured above).

The centre opened behind schedule and over budget in March.

The council also agreed on Monday evening, to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to HBC for a key report to be made public to discover the financial liability that council tax payers face for remedial work to leisure centre foundations.

The report, which was prepared by engineering consultancy Stantec,  was received by HBC more than two months ago, prior to the local elections in May, but has yet to be presented to the council’s cabinet.

Overgrown and yet to be landscaped, the playing fields.

Cllr Williams, who was elected to represent Ripon at parish and North Yorkshire level, claimed:

“There is a clear attempt to suppress this report and literally kick it into the leisure centre’s long grass.

“But the public has a right to know the full financial consequences, before the successor authority has to deal with the mess of HBC’s incompetent handling of the project from the outset, starting with their decision to build on a site with a known history of ground instability.”

What was promised and what has been delivered?

The £10.2 million contract signed with construction company Willmott Dixon in November 2019, was for delivery of the new pool, a refurbished leisure centre, creation of a children’s playground, landscaping of the site, reinstatement of a football pitch, provision of parking for vehicles and bicycles and installation of electric car charging points.

To date, the pool, children’s playground, parking facilities and charging points, have been delivered, but only the gym on the upper floor of the leisure centre is open, with activities, such as spin classes relocated to the Hugh Ripley Hall.

The agreed completion date for the contract was May 2021, but delays caused by ground instability meant extensive grouting (injection of concrete) had to take place which held up the opening of the pool until March of this year.

Reluctance to release the Stantec report

Following an initial inspection by Stantec of a ‘void’ near the entrance to the leisure centre, discovered during construction work in September 2020, the consultancy was appointed to carry out a detailed investigation of the foundations.

In April, chartered engineer and Ripon resident Stanley Mackintosh, submitted an FOI request to HBC, seeking release of the Stantec report, but despite repeated attempts to obtain a copy, he still awaits their decision on whether or not the report will be released to him.

Escalating costs

Mr Mackintosh, pointed out:

“The known running total for the project as of September 2021, was standing at £14,590,665 and In my opinion, considerable additional monies will be needed to carry out the extremely complex  works.

“This is because the foundations will need to be thickened from 200mm to 750mm, and superstructure modifications will be required to improve the structural stiffness of the building.

“It’s a very costly exercise to carry out under an existing building and even then, long-term sustainability cannot be guaranteed, because of the on-going underground gypsum dissolution that will continue to occur.”

He pointed out:

“Ground instability will be a constant feature in this area of Ripon, as evidenced by the opening up of a sinkhole in February 2018 on the leisure centre car park and the discovery of a further sinkhole close to the centre’s entrance in September 2020.

Chartered civil engineer Stanley Mackintosh, pictured outside the site before the swimming pool opened

“The actual remediation costs will only be known when the findings of the Stantec report are released and I have been attempting, under FOI legislation, to obtain a copy of that report, but the council appears reluctant to let me have it.”

“This stonewalling is a classic case of kicking the can down the road, because the council knows that there will be significant financial implications for council tax payers, long after HBC’s affairs have been taken over by the new North Yorkshire Council next April.”

What does Harrogate Borough Council have to say?

HBC has confirmed that the Stantec report has not been presented to its cabinet members.

A spokesperson, said in a statement:

“The report, and recommendations, will be presented to the meeting of the cabinet in due course.”

The spokesperson also confirmed that the council considers that remedial works that will need to be carried out under the centre are a financially viable proposition.

Asked when the landscaping works and restoration of the football pitch will be carried out, so that children can use the area for recreation once more, the spokesperson didn’t give any specific dates, but said:

“This work will be completed towards the end of the investment project at the leisure and wellbeing centre.”

Read more:

• Ripon pool opening delayed again
• Sinkhole experts urge councillors to consider new site for Ripon pool
• Thumbs up for new Dallamires playground in Ripon