Failed Harrogate Convention Centre revamp funding bid lacked evidence - report

The council hoped to get cash to support a £49m redevelopment of the centre

A funding bid to redevelop Harrogate's convention centre failed because it lacked "evidence and rationale" as to how it would increase business, according to a feedback report.

Harrogate Borough Council applied for £20m from the government's Levelling Up Fund towards the proposed £49m project.

Details of why the bid was rejected were contained in a government report.

North Yorkshire Council, which now owns the venue, will decide later this year if it will proceed with the scheme.

The feedback describes the application by the now abolished Harrogate Borough Council as "relatively strong" and cited stakeholder engagement and the project's deliverability as positives, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In the bid, which the council spent £45,000 on producing, the authority said upgrading the facilities would boost event numbers and increase the amount of money they can generate.

But the government said the evidence behind these assumptions was not sufficient.

"The bid set out why the intervention was expected to address the identified problems but there was a lack of supporting evidence and rationale," the feedback said.

"The bid could have been strengthened by incorporating more evidence to support the assumptions linking outputs to outcomes and impacts, e.g., it would have been good to understand whether there was unmet demand for this type of space, and how the increased capacity of the centre would address the problems identified."

The government also said it wanted more details on how the project would improve wellbeing.

It has been estimated that the council-owned centre, which opened in 1982, attracts more than 150,000 visitors a year with an economic impact of more than £35m.

But the venue's financial performance has been poor over the past decade during which its annual revenue has decreased by an average of 3% per year.

A previous report said it could lose £250m over the next 40 years unless it is revamped.