New council will use Harrogate’s £13m headquarters

The Civic Centre at St Luke’s Avenue opened in December 2017 after HBC sold its offices in Harrogate, including Crescent Gardens for £4m, to help fund the move.

HBC said the overall cost of the Civic Centre was £13.1m and it would lead to savings of £1m a year due to reduced maintenence and energy costs.

But with the impending abolition of the authority, there has been a question mark over what would happen to the building.

All of Harrogate Borough Council’s staff, except chief executive Wallace Sampson who is set to receive a redundancy package worth £101,274, will transfer over to the new authority on April 1.

North Yorkshire County Council chief executive Richard Flinton, who will become the boss of the new council, told business leaders in Harrogate last night that the new authority “has no intention of sucking people into a ‘super HQ’ based at County Hall (in Northallerton)”.

He was speaking at a Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting at Rudding Park alongside Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of NYCC and future leader of the new authority.

Mr Flinton said: “We want a main office in every district area. We will be keeping the new office building in Harrogate and basing staff there.

"All the planners, development and housing people — all the main people that businesses and the public need to engage with — will be based in Harrogate”.

Mr Flinton said preparations are ongoing to ensure a smooth transition from April 1. He compared the situation to the new millenium in 2000 when there were fears that technology would stop working when the clock struck midnight.

He said he wants local government reorganisation “to be the new millenium bug”.

“There was hype, worries and concern then it was a damp squib. There’s a million and one concerns, but I hope it’s a millenium bug scenario and services are enjoyed by residents as they continue to be now”.

He added: “There will be a lot of lifting and shifting of teams from the districts to the new unitary.

"That restructuring will carry on for the next year or so. Bear with us through that period”.