Letter: Valley Gardens - Really Crazy Golf in the Gardens

I have watched the refurbishment work with interest and I must admit that the course looks vastly better than it did.

However, strolling past the course on Saturday morning I was very disappointed to see that the course was in fact unusable.

One of the holes featured barriers due to remedial work being carried out. Most of the other holes were under several inches of water because the designers and/or builders have failed to provide any drainage.

Perhaps some will see this as a minor teething problem. However I recall that after spending the entire budget of £140,000 on building the Valley Gardens skate park, in January 2011, the cabinet member for cultural services was forced to stump up an additional £9,000 to fund a CCTV camera for the skate park which had been “forgotten” by the council despite it being a strict requirement of the planning permission.

Then in July 2013 the council requested, and were granted, another £9,000 to provide a tarmac path up to the skate park which apparently had also been “forgotten” in the original plan.

It should also be borne in mind that the Valley Gardens children’s play area is in its third iteration of trying to provide a surface that does not turn into a quagmire during a typical British summer.

All of the above represent a waste of council tax payer’s money on what are relatively minor projects.

What assurances can HBC Chief Executive give Harrogate residents that the council is competent enough to take on building itself a new multi-million pound headquarters?

Older council tax payers may remember the fiasco that was the erection of the conference centre.

Patrick Wray

Harlow Moor Drive,

Harrogate