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09
Mar 2023
‘Save our conference centre’: Harrogate’s Lib Dems and Tories make rare joint plea
Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors put their differences aside last night to call on the new North Yorkshire Council to back a £49m redevelopment of the Harrogate Convention Centre.
It came during Harrogate Borough Council’s final full meeting at the Civic Centre.
The council has previously warned that if the convention centre redevelopment doesn’t go ahead, the district could lose out on up to £250 million over the next 40 years in lost tourism and business spending.
A motion was proposed by the Liberal Democrat councillor for Fairfax, Chris Aldred, which was seconded by Conservative councillor for Valley Gardens, Sam Gibbs, to ask the new authority to confirm its support for a major refurbishment of the ageing facility.
It will take control of the building when Harrogate Borough Council is abolished at the end of the month.
The motion also asked that the new council “moves forward with urgency” in setting up a management board for the Harrogate Borough Council .
The project has moved to the design phase but where the money will come from to pay for it remains uncertain. North Yorkshire Council will make a final decision at a later date.
During the debate, councillors from both sides of the political divide lined up to give reasons why it should go ahead with many citing how the convention centre boosts the trade of Harrogate’s bars and restaurants.
Cllr Aldred said if the conference centre closed Harrogate would be “a very different town”.
He said:
Conservative councillor for Killinghall and Hampsthwaite, Michael Harrison, who will sit on the decision-making executive of North Yorkshire Council compared the redevelopment to the £68 million re-routing of Kex Gill but said the benefits were not as visible.
He said:
Both council leader Richard Cooper and opposition leader Pat Marsh also addressed councillors about why they were backing the redevelopment.
Ann Myatt, the Conservative councillor for Ouseburn, was the sole dissenting voice from either the Tories’ or the Lib Dems’ benches.
Read more:
- New council chief questions future of Harrogate Convention Centre
- New board to review Harrogate Convention Centre operating model
- Government rejects £20m levelling up bid for Harrogate Convention Centre
Cllr Myatt said she “has never been convinced” that the taxpayer should foot the bill for the redevelopment and that a focus on supporting the hospitality trade could hold Harrogate back.
She said:
Ripon councillor calls it a "bottomless pit"
Many people in Ripon have been against the conference centre ever since it was first proposed in 1976, believing the facility offers few benefits for the cathedral city.
Ripon Independent councillor for Ripon Minster, Pauline McHardy told the meeting that the convention centre was a “bottomless pit” and the redevelopment should not go ahead.
She said:
The motion passed by 29 to 3.
Harrogate Borough Council has a final extraordinary meeting of the council scheduled for March 22 before it is abolished after 49 years of existence on March 31.
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