Harrogate Convention Centre: £200k More for Studio 2 Refit

North Yorkshire Council’s Executive meets at 11am on Tuesday 18 August and its first-quarter budget report asks members to find another £200,000 for the Studio 2 rebuild at Harrogate Convention Centre, because the original costings “did not include for fixtures and fittings”. The same report puts a number on what the building site is already costing the venue: a forecast £100,000 loss of car parking income this year, with the second HCC car park closed for most of 2026/27 as part of the works.

The Executive is a county-wide meeting and most of the agenda is not about this area. What follows is the Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon detail pulled out of the capital plan, the revenue monitoring report and the executive summary, all published on 10 August.

Studio 2: on site since July, finishing late spring 2027

The capital plan says contractors “commenced on site in July 2026 with works expected to conclude in late Spring 2027”. The council described the project in March as a £9.4 million redevelopment of Studio 2 into breakout conference rooms for up to 1,200 delegates, the missing piece that has stopped the venue bidding for the larger association conferences, and estimated it would add £1.7 million a year to the local economy against a venue that already contributes about £45 million. Without it, the council said, the centre would need a subsidy of around £1.1 million a year.

Now the report says the sums that supported that investment left out fixtures and fittings, and recommends “£200k from the Strategic Capacity Reserve is approved to complete the scheme”. The capital plan shows £8.29 million against the convention centre in 2026/27 and a further £800,000 in 2027/28, £9.09 million in all, before the £200,000 top-up.

On the revenue side the venue is forecast £129,000 over budget for the year: the £100,000 parking hit from the site compound, about £15,000 less catering income than planned because “lower-than-expected levels of association conferences and corporate events” are booked, and £31,000 short on other income, partly offset by £17,000 of salary and other savings. Lettings income is forecast to hit budget.

Leisure: Ripon’s reopening is the biggest pressure in the county

The council’s in-house leisure service is forecast to overspend its pay budget by £756,000 across the county, and the report says “the most significant pressure” is at Ripon Leisure Centre, £305,000, “following its full reopening and expanded exercise programme”. A further £512,000 of staffing pressure is reported “across Knaresborough, Harrogate and Nidderdale Leisure Centres”. Management is reviewing staffing and moving to “a more consistent operating model across the Leisure Service”.

Income is £66,000 below budget county-wide. Most of that is Richmond’s closed pool, but the report also names “underperformance at the Turkish Baths”, where “income targets remain challenging”, and a £45,000 shortfall at Starbeck on pay-as-you-go swimming. Health and fitness memberships and Learn to Swim are described as strong.

Parking, the Nursery and the market

Parking Services is forecast £1.583 million over budget for the whole county. This is not a fall in demand; the report says it is “unachieved income budgets relating to rebalancing of parking tariffs across the county and additional parking principles” that were built into the 2026/27 budget “but not yet approved to be implemented”. In other words the budget assumed a tariff change that has not happened. Moving traffic enforcement, also delayed, is £406,000 short.

Parks and Grounds is £348,000 over. Markets are forecasting £128,000 less income than budgeted “due to reduced traders”, and Harrogate Nursery, the council’s plant nursery, is £93,000 short on income, “partly attributable to delays with Summer bedding plants meaning they are not available to sell”.

Roads and stations

• Harrogate Station Gateway. The Transforming Cities Fund section says “the Harrogate scheme is expected to start shortly on the ground following positive funding discussions with WYCA and Y&NYCA”, and that approval is being sought to move an £800,000 underspend from the finished Skipton scheme into the Harrogate and Selby programme. No start date is given.
• A59 Kex Gill. The capital plan, written before the council’s 13 August statement, still says opening is “expected in mid-Summer 2026”. The council has since said the main section opens by early September; our report on that is here. The capital plan carries £21.15 million for Kex Gill in 2026/27, £21.35 million to completion.
• Public toilets. Members are asked to release £175,000 of the £177,000 set aside in April to install pay-on-entry equipment at more council toilets. The April decision set the fee at 40p. The report does not list which blocks are next.
• Care and Support Hub. The Harrogate scheme has reached RIBA stage 3, and budget has been moved to it from the Craven scheme within the £59 million programme.

The county picture

The council as a whole is forecasting a net overspend of £10.267 million against the 2026/27 budget, “particularly in Children’s Services”, and is asked to note the release of £10.918 million of contingency to cover it. External debt was £350.3 million at 30 June. The Executive is also asked to approve £800,000 more for the Catterick Garrison Levelling Up scheme and £361,000 to stabilise a landslip on Royal Albert Drive in Scarborough.

What it means for you

• If you use the convention centre car parks, expect the reduced capacity to last the financial year; the report treats the second car park as part of the site until the works finish.
• If you swim at Ripon, Starbeck or Knaresborough, the message from the report is that staffing levels are under review to bring costs down, not that anything closes. Nothing in the papers proposes a closure.
• Parking tariffs. The 2026/27 budget banks on a county-wide “rebalancing” that has not yet been approved. When it comes to a decision it will be a separate Executive item, and it is the one to watch.
• The meeting is public, in the Grand Meeting Room at County Hall, Northallerton. Questions had to be lodged by midday on 13 August; the papers and, afterwards, the decisions are on the council’s meeting page.

Related on this site: Harrogate roadworks and travel, Harrogate planning news, things to do in Harrogate.