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21
May 2024
‘They completely knacked it up’: Former Harrogate council criticised over Ripon leisure centre
Former leaders at the defunct Harrogate Borough Council have been criticised for their decision to upgrade a leisure centre on unstable land in Ripon despite warnings.
It comes as North Yorkshire Council confirmed it would spend another £2 million pumping grout to stabilise the ground underneath Ripon Leisure Centre, taking the total cost of the works to an eye-watering £8.5m.
Ripon’s Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre opened in March 2022 but whilst the pool is in use, plans for a gym at the existing leisure centre on the same site were delayed after an underground void was discovered.
This prompted an investigation which found evidence of multiple voids and “significantly weak” areas of ground beneath the older half of the leisure centre that was built in 1995.
Ripon is susceptible to voids and sinkholes because it lies on a layer of water-soluble rock called gypsum.
Last month the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed the council had already pumped almost 3,000 tonnes of grout beneath the leisure centre to stabilise the ground.
In an update released to the public yesterday, the council said this work would continue.
The decision-making Conservative-run executive is set to approve a further £2 million being spent at a meeting next week.
Cllr Andrew Williams (Conservative and independent group, Ripon Minster & Moorside) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Harrogate Borough Council handed the new unitary authority “a lemon” in the leisure centre.
He said:
Cllr Williams said he was grateful to the new council for the works to stabilise the ground.
He added:
Retired chartered engineer Stanley Mackintosh campaigned against the site being used for the leisure centre due to the gypsum issues.
He believes that the new leisure centre will never be built on the site and it should be built in the west of the city instead, where the ground is more stable.
Mr Mackintosh told the LDRS:
The council’s executive member for leisure, Cllr Simon Myers, said:
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