Harrogate Council agrees office sale and new HQ plan

The council said the current state of some of the offices were unfit for purpose

Plans to sell Harrogate Council's landmark offices and build a new £9m headquarters have been agreed.

The building in Crescent Gardens will be sold off and replaced with a four storey development at Knapping Mount.

The plan has come under criticism from the Liberal Democrats with all 15 of their councillors voting against the move at a meeting on Wednesday.

The council leader said the decision was one of the most important the authority had made in 40 years.

Lib Dem councillor Helen Flynn previously said the new office would be a "waste of local taxpayers' money".

She argued the council should focus on refurbishing the Crescent Gardens offices instead.

Work is due to start on the new building in autumn

Council staff are currently split between five sites - Knapping Mount, Crescent Gardens, Scottsdale House, Victoria Park House and Springfield Gardens.

The new building would allow all 500 staff to work from a single office.

Richard Cooper, leader of the Conservative-run council, said the move to Knapping Mount would cost £8.7m but result in more than £1m savings a year.

It is being funded by council reserves and internal borrowing and the council said it would be paid back over a seven-year period.

The authority said a preferred bidder had been approved for Crescent Gardens and fears its "beautiful exterior" could be destroyed were "unfounded".

"Any alterations would have to be sympathetic to and in keeping with the existing building," a council spokesman added.