‘We just want to make a living’: Harrogate cabbies hit out at new rules

A group of over 100 taxi drivers has said it feels unfairly targeted by Harrogate Borough Council after the authority agreed new licencing conditions that include suspending drivers who get seven penalty points for speeding.

The conditions also stipulate drivers must keep taxi plates on their vehicles even when they are not working and they must attend mandatory training courses.

The council has said the changes are “reasonable” and will improve safety for passengers but cabbies argue the policies are draconian and will put good drivers out of work.

Several drivers the Stray Ferret spoke to today on Harrogate’s taxi rank on Station Parade said the new conditions were the last thing they needed after a tough couple of years due to covid and spiralling fuel costs.

Currently drivers face a suspension if they tot up 12 points for speeding.

‘Totally out of order’

Dave Goodall, a taxi driver at Blueline, called the new conditions “upsetting” and “totally out of order”.

He said drivers could easily rack up thousands of miles a month and were faced with an ever-increasing number of hidden mobile speed vans around the Harrogate district, as well as cameras in nearby cities such as Leeds, York and Bradford.

He said:

“To have this put on us, on top of everything else, it’s a bit too much.”

Mr Goodall said cabbies often had difficult customers who were drunk, high on drugs or had mental health issues, which could distract drivers and result in them inadvertently going over the speed limit.

He added:

“If someone is caught doing 70mph in a 30mph zone, yes, they should be reprimanded.

“But to say if you get seven points you could be suspended, we think that’s totally out of order. With the best will in the world it’s so easy to get points sometimes. 

“There are drivers who are on six points now who are very, very nervous. They are not bad drivers.”

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Musa Ebzao, a Hackney cab driver in Harrogate, said covid had already led to an exodus of drivers in the town. He fears the changes would put off new drivers from joining.

He said:

“We are fighting for our businesses. There’s a shortage of drivers already and a lot of lads will leave the trade. It’s the Harrogate people who will suffer.”

United front

A letter objecting to the new conditions has been signed by over 100 drivers and it will be delivered to Harrogate Borough Council’s civic centre next week.

The drivers are putting on a united front, with signatures from drivers at all the large firms, such as Blueline, Mainline and Central as well as smaller companies and private hire drivers.

They said they have not ruled out legal action or protests, like those seen in Leeds over similar proposals, in the future.

Council’s response

The proposal to suspend taxi drivers who receive penalty points has been put forward by the Department for Transport. However, it does not specify how many points a taxi driver can get before their licence is revoked.

In Harrogate, drivers will still be given the chance to argue their case and give reasons why their licence should not be revoked.

A council spokesperson said:

“The safety of customers using taxis is paramount.

“Seven penalty points issued for motoring offences is consistent with proposals for City of York and the West Yorkshire authorities and is recommended in national guidance.

“Taxi drivers’ licences are reviewed on an individual basis when points accumulate. And while the policy specifies seven points, an opportunity is given to the driver to put their side and reasons why their licence should not be revoked.

“Once a vehicle is licensed it is always a licensed vehicle and the law does not permit drivers to take licence plates off. It cannot sometimes be a private vehicle and sometimes be a licensed vehicle at the driver’s choice. And by ensuring a valid licence plate is secured and displayed at all times it allows the public to identify the vehicle as licenced by the local authority, and prevents it being stolen and used by others.”

Redevelopment of former Harrogate council headquarters approved

Plans to transform Harrogate Borough Council’s former headquarters with a two-storey extension and rooftop restaurant have been approved five years after the authority vacated the building.

The proposals for Crescent Gardens – which has sat empty since 2017 – also include a gym and new office space.

Harrogate-based property developers Impala Estates bought the building for £4 million in 2020 and are behind the plans after previous proposals for luxury apartments and an art gallery fell through.

Speaking at a council meeting today, David Hartley, director at Impala Estates, said the latest plans would bring “significant public benefits” to the town.

He said:

“Unusually for an application of this size, there have only been five letters of complaint from members of the public.

“The small number of complaints is perhaps testament to the level of pre-application public consultation we undertook and that the final design has, where possible, taken this into account.

“This scheme brings significant public benefits which include bringing an empty building back into use and creating quality office space.”

Knapping Mount

Crescent Gardens was vacated by the council when it moved into its new Knapping Mount headquarters in 2017.

At the time, the council announced it would sell the building to property developer Adam Thorpe who had plans for a £75 million redevelopment including luxury apartments, an art gallery, underground car park, swimming pool and restaurant.

However, Mr Thorpe’s company ATP Ltd then fell into administration with debts of almost £11 million, including £24,394 owed to the council.

The latest proposals from Impala Estates had attracted objections from Historic England which questioned the public benefits and said the roof extension should not exceed one storey.

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Some residents living on Swan Road raised further concerns over their privacy and how else the rooftop terrace could be used if the restaurant failed.

Speaking at today’s meeting, resident Jackie Davis said:

“Mr primary concern is the roof terrace – this must have adequate screening, preferably trees behind the roof glass balustrade to try to protect our privacy.

“As we already know, many restaurant spaces are empty in Harrogate. The Royal Baths directly opposite the building has recently failed.

“I worry that this venue will follow the same fate over the years, leading to the possibility of a bar or perhaps a nightclub ending up there.”

In response, council officers said licensing restrictions would be put on the building’s use.

It was also agreed that extra screening would be installed on the rooftop terrace.

Furthermore, Mr Hartley said double-yellow lines would be introduced on the nearby Swan Lane to reduce disruption from parking and deliveries which he added would be “significantly less” than when the council occupied the building.

Long-running saga

Today’s decision to grant approval will have felt like a big weight off the shoulders of the council which is keen to see the long-running saga of Crescent Gardens come to an end.

But attention will soon turn to the future of its new Knapping Mount headquarters which has been brought into question ever since last year’s announcement that the council will be abolished in April 2023.

The council said the building cost £13 million. However, the Stray Ferret investigated the overall cost of the move from Crescent Gardens and put the figure closer to £17 million.

A decision on how the site is used in the future could well fall into the hands of the newly-elected members of the forthcoming North Yorkshire Council.

Harrogate council still expecting staff to work from home

Harrogate Borough Council says it expects some staff to continue working from home, despite all covid restrictions now being lifted.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an immediate end to working from home guidance on January 19.

The following week, the government dropped Plan B restrictions, including mandatory face masks and vaccine passports.

At a full meeting of councillors last week, Conservative member for Bishop Monkton and Newby, Nick Brown, questioned Conservative council leader Richard Cooper about the working from home directive.

The Civic Centre on St Luke’s Avenue off King’s Road cost the council £17m and opened in December 2017.

Cllr Brown said:

“This council spent many millions on the Civic Centre, which has stood almost empty for two years, Given recent directives by the Prime Minister, when can we expect all the council officers usually based at the Civic Centre to be back at their desks?”.

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In response, Cllr Cooper said some staff worked from home before covid hit and will continue to do so.

But he said any decisions about working practices would be made by senior officers and not councillors.

Cllr Cooper said:

“Staff will work from the Civic Centre and other venues when their line managers require them to do so, or when they need to be there for a specific reason, as they did before covid.

“If we think our job as councillors is to dictate who and where people can work, we are mistaken. That’s an operational decision for the chief executive and line managers.”

‘Agile working’

The Stray Ferret has asked the council for the number of staff currently working from home who would normally be in the Civic Centre.

A council spokesperson said:

“Following the updated guidance in relation to the end of Plan B measures, staff are permitted to work from the office should they wish to or are required to do so.

“The number of staff using said office(s) differs day-by-day so it would be difficult to provide a comprehensive figure. Staff also come and go from the office depending on their job role; housing and planning officers for example.

“And while covid has seen a significant increase in staff working from home – and rightly so – many staff were already doing so. The civic centre was designed in such a way that staff could hybrid work or ‘hot desk’ if they so wished.

“Agile working is something adopted by many local authorities and companies long before covid and is one of the many benefits of working for Harrogate Borough Council.”

Harrogate council staff still working from home – despite change of guidance

Harrogate Borough Council is still encouraging staff to work from home despite covid guidance and restrictions being dropped.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an immediate end to work from home guidance on January 19.

The following week, the government dropped Plan B restrictions, including mandatory face masks and vaccine passports.

Despite the end to the guidance, council officials said the authority was still encouraging staff to work from home where possible due to high covid rates in the district.

Currently, the seven-day rate for the Harrogate district stands at 1,301 per 100,000 people.

A spokesperson for the council said:

“Covid infection rates continue to remain high across the Harrogate district. Therefore, staff are continuing to be encouraged to work from home where possible, however they are able to come into work if required.

“Our covid workplace safety plan is regularly updated to reflect the latest government guidance and local infection rates to ensure we can continue to keep our colleagues safe. We continue to review this on a regular basis.”

The council has staff working across the district, predominantly at its multi-million pound Knapping Mount headquarters which has space for 500 staff.

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The Stray Ferret asked the council how many staff it had working from its offices and how many were working from home.

It said the number of staff “differs day-by-day” and not all roles required offices as a work space.

A spokesperson added that the council’s headquarters at Knapping Mount was also designed to allow for staff to hot desk if they wished.

They said:

“As the number of colleagues using one of our offices differs day-by-day, and not all roles require an office setting it would be difficult to provide a comprehensive figure. Staff also come and go from the office depending on their job role, planning officers for example.

“And while covid has seen a significant increase in staff working from home – and rightly so – many staff were already able to work from home if they so wished.

“Agile working was something adopted by many local authorities and companies long before covid. In fact, the civic centre was designed in such a way that staff could hot desk if they so wish.”

Harrogate council to bypass procurement process for £125,000 contract

Harrogate Borough Council is set to appoint a Hull-based firm to service its heating and air conditioning units on a £125,000 contract without going through its normal procurement process.

A report today will go before HBC’s cabinet member for economic development, Cllr Graham Swift, that asks him to approve the appointment of Airco Refrigeration Limited on a 12-month contract.

Work involves issuing gas safety certificates for commercial boilers, replacing filters in air handling units and servicing of pumps at the council’s heating and refrigeration sites.

The previous supplier, Harrogate-firm Robinson Facilities Services Ltd, was appointed on a five-year contract in 2019. However, the company terminated its contract with 30-days notice on April 19 this year, leaving the council without anyone to provide emergency repairs.

The report said due to the short notice, HBC was unable to undertake a formal procurement exercise, complete market research or benchmarking.

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However, it says Airco has agreed to provide services at an equivalent cost to the outgoing supplier.

The Stray Ferret asked HBC why the company cancelled the contract but we did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The report says:

“It is of the upmost importance that an alternative service provider is appointed without delay as the council is required to hold a valid gas safety certificate for each property in its ownership. Planned preventative maintenance is essential to ensure the council’s operational buildings are safe and fit for purpose.”

The report says that the fixed-term contract will give HBC 12 months to complete a procurement process to appoint a new long-term supplier.

New report reveals additional £1.6m civic centre cost

A new council report has revealed it cost £1.6m to fit out the interior of its civic centre at Knapping Mount.

The report, set to go before cabinet next week, sets out the final construction cost at £11.5m and the new figure of £1.6m. The council says that the overall project came under its £13m budget.

It comes after the contractor, Harry Fairclough Ltd, went into administration – delaying the final construction bill.  The report also reveals that the delay was partially caused by negotiations over defects.

The Stray Ferret investigated the overall cost of the move from Crescent Gardens to Knapping Mount in July and put the figure closer to £17m.

We revealed that the council’s calculations for the costs of the civic centre did not take into account the value of the land at Knapping Mount. The land had originally been earmarked for housing.

Read our investigation for a breakdown of how we reached that figure.

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We also reported on how the decision to build a circular building could have added up to 20% onto the build cost – making the design and construction expensive.

In our calculations in July we had a figure of £400,000 for the fit out costs and £865,000 for design expertise. The newly confirmed figure of £1.6m for fitting out the building makes the true overall cost to the tax payer at more than £17m.

The council disputed our figures. It argued that the overall cost was lower because of money received in the sale of its other premises.

From the sale of its other council buildings, this new report identifies an extra £2.47m saving which the council has described as a “massive saving”.

The Stray Ferret’s investigation has not disputed the council’s figures.   We argued that the council could have also benefited from the sale of the land at Knapping Mount which we estimated at £4.5m with outline planning permission and built a cheaper building in a cheaper location.

Cllr Graham Swift, the deputy leader at Harrogate Borough Council, said ahead of the cabinet meeting:

“Cabinet made a strong commitment to publishing the overall costs of the civic centre project, but this has not been possible before now.

“We have an amazing new civic centre which we can all be proud of, and we have achieved significant savings against the original overall budget in the process.”

Council defends civic centre costs

Harrogate Borough Council has defended its decision-making on its new civic centre following an investigation by The Stray Ferret.

After our reports were published on Monday morning, Harrogate Borough Council posted a series of tweets in response.

In response to articles published on the Stray Ferret website about the supposed cost of civic centre in #Harrogate, the articles are not accurate. The figures are based on a wide range of assumptions backed up by unnamed experts.

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) July 13, 2020

As outlined in our reports, in the course of our investigation we contacted and interviewed a number of established, independent estate agents, architects and quantity surveyors. Each gave us their honest opinion based on their expertise but, as they all work in the local area, they asked us not to identify them in our reports.

Land value

The land at civic centre did not cost the council £4.5million. We already owned it, so the cost was £0. Including the assumed value of land when working out the cost of a building is not a methodology we ever used.

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) July 13, 2020


The Stray Ferret has looked through all the available documents at the time, including the appraisal of the Hornbeam site and others. They sum up the council’s view that none of them was as suitable as Knapping Mount.

Though the council can argue it did not spend any money on the Knapping Mount site because it already owned it, this misses a central point of our investigation. The land was potentially extremely valuable and, if sold, could have brought in sufficient income to buy and build on a cheaper site elsewhere, with resulting savings for taxpayers.

Without having achieved planning permission, the council could never have had a clear value of the land in order to make an informed decision about whether to sell it or build on it.

Other options

It is true that one of the sites we considered was at Hornbeam Park. A full appraisal of this option was put to cabinet and council in October 2014 and rejected as not viable. You can read more at: https://t.co/w0ZnpRLyyB

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) July 13, 2020


What has never been released, however, is the full detail of those sites, how the costs were calculated and why they were dismissed as less favourable than Knapping Mount. A full report was done by an external consultant – but this has always been kept under wraps.

As outlined in our report, the council referred to areas including Pannal and Beckwith Knowle, but did not specify which sites, or whether they were buying buildings or land to build a new office on.

These details were never part of any public consultation or even discussion. Without this information being made public, local taxpayers are unable to judge whether the council made sensible use of their money.

Final costs

At the moment, we cannot reveal the final cost of the building as we have not agreed a final bill with the developer. It is now in receivership. We are waiting for an update from the official receiver. As soon as the final cost is known to us, it will be made public.

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) July 13, 2020


The final cost of the build is only part of the picture. We know the contract was agreed at £11.5m and the council views that as the fixed cost. The contractor has argued for more money and only in time will we find out what has to be paid.

But there is more to it than that. The additional value of the land has never been discussed publicly, and nor have the costs of fitting out the building – everything from flooring to light fixtures, IT infrastructure and more. There is no reason why the council cannot release these details now, more than two-and-a-half years after the building was occupied, and we call on them to do so.

Savings

Civic centre represents excellent value for the council tax payer of the district. It saves us around £1million a year compared to running and maintaining the previous network of offices. This is money that was sorely needed to keep our public services running in recent months.

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) July 13, 2020


The council argues that the civic centre saves £1m per year and we don’t dispute that those savings have been made. However, any money saved was through reducing staff numbers, working on one site instead of five and moving to a modern, efficient building.

All of those savings could have been made with a move to any new office – it did not have to be Knapping Mount. A cheaper site and a cheaper build would have given the same results AND left taxpayers enjoying the benefit of the same savings.

Questions still to be answered

A number of key points in our investigation have still not received a response from HBC.

We found that their choice of a round building – designed to ‘express the nature of democracy’ – made the project more complex and therefore more expensive. The council has not defended this choice.

Nor has it responded to the continuing threat of devolution which could mean the new civic centre is no longer needed, or is too large or even too small for changing requirements in Harrogate in the next few years. These discussions began before the council committed to the new building and are continuing now:, with change expected within two years.

There has been no justification for the need for a town centre office, which dominated HBC’s decision-making process and bumped up the cost of out-of-town options, as it argued it had to retain another central office as a customer service centre.

Finally, the council has still not explained why, when the Knapping Mount site was earmarked for housing, it did not attempt to get planning permission in order to asses the true value of that land before deciding to where to build the new civic centre. Without that, we can never know what the land could have been worth.

Campaign group brands civic centre ‘shocking and ridiculous waste of money’

Harrogate Borough Council’s new civic centre has been branded a ‘vanity project’ by a campaign group focused on the good use of public money.

The comments from the Taxpayers’ Alliance comes after The Stray Ferret investigated the costs and decisions around the civic centre, finding its true cost to taxpayers was £17m.

Having seen the investigation, Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said:

“This is an absolutely shocking and ridiculous waste of money. Poor council procurement and planning has cost taxpayers dearly.

“Residents have faced year after year of rate rises. They don’t deserve to see their hard-earned taxes frittered away on council vanity projects.

“It is essential that every penny of public funds delivers maximum possible value. Harrogate council must clean up its act and stop taking ratepayers for a ride.”

Political reaction

Harrogate Liberal Democrat opposition group has also slammed the council’s spending on the project.

Cllr Pat Marsh, who leads the group on Harrogate Borough Council, said:

“Liberal Democrat councillors have opposed this move from the very beginning, arguing that it’s a shocking waste of money and we should be investing in the services that touch people’s daily lives.

“However our opposition was ignored by Conservative councillors who stressed at great length that this would be a £9million project which ‘will pay for itself within five years’. Our residents need to know whether this is still the case, and if not, why not? It is their money and they deserve answers.”

Has Harrogate’s £17m civic centre met its aims?

Despite spending millions, Harrogate Borough Council still faces problems with its new civic centre. 

The amount of parking on offer has been controversial from the outset and results in staff having to park elsewhere – taking up valuable commercial spaces and clogging residential streets. 

While HBC argued its move to the new civic centre would save £1m a year, this would have been true no matter which site the council chose for its new headquarters. 

The building itself has no mayor’s parlour for civic occasions, a choice which was queried by groups including Harrogate Civic Society, leaving nowhere to host visitors.

The council also made the move knowing that changes could lie ahead for local government, with the future shape of local government in North Yorkshire being debated at the time. Now, with HBC having only been in the civic centre for two years, even the existence of district councils is up for debate as North Yorkshire prepares for devolution.

Why is parking a problem? 

From the outset, the amount of parking was controversial.  

As a result, the council is using spaces at the nearby Harrogate Convention Centre as overflow parking. In its plans for using up to 130 of these spaces, HBC acknowledged that it could result in a reduction in the £150,000 annual income from the public using the HCC car park 

When events are held, staff can park free in the Victoria multi-storey car park, using permits issued by HBC.  

While it is unlikely they would all be used at the same time for the full day, there is no limit on how many spaces in the Victoria Car Park can be taken up by council staff. 

Not only does this mean that staff are being given free parking in a prime spot for shoppers who could be supporting local businesses, but it also limits the potential income for the council from parking spaces. 

Harrogate Borough Council's new civic centre car park has 95 spaces

The new civic centre car park has 95 spaces, with 561 staff based there

A report to HBC’s cabinet in November 2014, before building work began at Knapping Mount, rejected the multi-storey car park as an option. It said: 

“The use of Victoria Car Park as a potential location for employee parking has been considered, however feedback suggests that this may not be well utilised by employees due to the facility being more distant from the Knapping Mount site.” 

However, staff are now given passes for that car park when the convention centre is in use. If they do, as predicted, feel it is too far, the only option left to staff who drive is to park on surrounding streets. 

North Yorkshire County Council, which looks after on-street parking, warned during the planning process that it would have to enforce residents’ parking zones if neighbouring streets became congested. It said it would review the situation annually for five years after the new civic centre was occupied, in December 2017. 

The county council told The Stray Ferret it was working with HBC to monitor the situation, but follow-up surveys to its initial report have not been possible during the pandemic and would not give a representative picture of normal working days. Allan McVeigh, NYCC’s head of network strategy, said:

“Harrogate Borough Council is not only obliged to monitor how staff travel to the civic centre and where they park, it has also committed to promoting sustainable travel and encouraging staff, councillors and visitors to reduce their car use.

“The borough council has provided us with a draft monitoring report that contains the results of a travel survey, an update on agreed travel plans as well as a number of initiatives to promote sustainable travel to the civic centre.”

The full report will be published on HBC’s website once finalised.

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What savings have been made?

An ambitious savings target of £1m per year was set by HBC when it planned its new civic centre, which the ruling Conservative party said would mean the £5m spend would pay for itself in five years. 

Screen shot of Conservative leaflet about the new civic centre costs

Taken from a Conservative leaflet distributed in 2014

In its 2019 annual report, HBC said:  

“Savings of £909k from our move to civic centre have been built into the base budget and approved budget for 2019/20.” 

According to the council, this is made up of: 

The same could have been achieved by a move to any modern building. Knapping Mount did not have to be chosen in order to reduce staff numbers and streamline IT.  

A move to any single site would have delivered the same results – so a site and build which cost millions less would have paid for itself much sooner. 

If the new civic centre is no longer needed

When the public consultation over the Knapping Mount proposal was held in 2015, concerns were raised about future changes to local government.  

At the time, Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce said a potential move to a unitary authority in the coming years could mean Harrogate no longer has a council, being replaced by a single authority for the whole county. 

The chamber argued that the decision over a new office should be delayed until the future of local government was clearer. However, HBC’s response at the time was that, should a move to unitary authority be made, a new civic centre would put Harrogate in an ideal position to become its headquarters.  

Harrogate Borough Council's new civic centre

With discussions about unitary authorities and devolution still going on, the council’s civic centre may not be needed in the next few years

Even with that level of uncertainty, HBC chose to spend millions on a new headquarters. Its five offices could have lasted a few more years until the future of local government had been confirmed. 

If it had deemed the move essential at the time, a more traditional building design would have been pragmatic: the council could have extended or sold the building, or even leased part of it to a commercial tenant, if its needs changed. 

As it is, one local expert told The Stray Ferret that the council’s choice of a round building has restricted its adaptability for re-use or sale in future, meaning it is less valuable than it might have been.  

Five years later, the issue of changes to local government is still being debated. North Yorkshire County Council leader Carl Les told The Stray Ferret last week that discussions are still being held about forming a combined authority for North Yorkshire – and Unison has issued a statement raising concerns about the situation. 

The future of local government in Harrogate is still uncertain – meaning the new civic centre may no longer be required just a few years after it was built.

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Questions remaining over council’s civic centre move

More than two-and-a-half years after HBC moved into its new civic centre, there are still question marks over some of the logic and decision-making involved.

After our in-depth investigation, The Stray Ferret would like to know: 

In its preparations, HBC said the new civic centre represented “good value and careful use of public money”. Our investigation calls into question whether that was the case. 

It is now for the public to decide whether £17m really represents the best possible use of public funds. 

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As the council faces unprecedented financial challenges and a possible £15m deficit, with inevitable cuts to services ahead, could more prudent choices over the civic centre have placed it in a better position to support local residents?  

And with the looming possibility of changes to the structure of local government in North Yorkshire, was it prudent for the council to invest so much money in a headquarters that may not be needed within just a few years of being completed?

The National Audit Office, which examines local councils’ use of taxpayers’ money, says: 

“Local public bodies are required to maintain an effective system of internal control that supports the achievement of their policies, aims and objectives while safeguarding and securing value for money from the public funds and other resources at their disposal.” 

The council’s external auditors have signed off the accounts for the years when those decisions were made.

So we ask taxpayers: was it worth it?

The Stray Ferret has today asked Harrogate Borough Council for a response to our investigation and will publish this when it is received.

Since publication of our first reports yesterday, the council has posted a series of tweets responding to our findings and questioning our sources.

In the course of our investigation, The Stray Ferret contacted and interviewed a number of established, independent estate agents, architects and quantity surveyors. Each gave us their honest opinion based on their expertise but, as they all work in the local area, they asked us not to identify them in our reports.