Mayor urges Government to back delayed college campus rebuild

The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has added his voice to efforts to make sure Harrogate College’s threatened campus redevelopment can go ahead.

David Skaith has written to the new Secretary of State for Education requesting an extension to the time limit attached to the Department for Education’s (DfE) funding for the £22m project.

A challenge to the planning process has sparked a judicial review, delaying the campus redevelopment.

Consent for the project had been secured in spring of this year, but the judicial review means the planning process will probably need to be run again.

It will push back the project completion date into 2026. The college warns this delay may put at risk £20m worth of Department for Education (DfE) funding for the scheme because the DfE grant and loan funding is linked to completing the work in 2025.

Skaith’s letter to Bridget Phillipson is being supported by other influential figures including Tom Gordon MP, recently elected Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough, and David Hughes, chief executive for the Association of Colleges.

The planned redevelopment is meant to upgrade the college’s facilities so they can meet the area’s current and emerging skills needs.

In his letter, Skaith said: “The council remains confident the project will still be granted planning permission, albeit at a delayed pace.

“This delay does mean, however, that the funding underpinning the rebuild is now threatened as a result of the expected completion date being delayed until September 2026.

“Missing this valuable window of opportunity to redevelop Harrogate’s only general further education college would be a damaging outcome for local people, employers and the regional economy.”

Harrogate College Principal, Danny Wild, said: “I hope the levels of local and regional support for the project are recognised by the new Secretary of State for Education and our request for an extension to the funding timeline is approved.

“The redevelopment of the campus will present new opportunities for training and education that will help deliver the growth aspirations for North Yorkshire.

“Losing this valuable opportunity to redevelop Harrogate’s only further education college will have a long-term detrimental impact on our local people, employers and the regional economy.”

MP Tom Gordon, who has separately written to the Education Secretary to urge an extension, added: “We are very fortunate to have a great college, serving the area, here in Harrogate – but in a rapidly-changing world it simply cannot afford to stand still.

“Harrogate College needs this redevelopment to ensure it has the facilities to keep delivering the evolving skills our region needs as we go forward – particularly in the rapidly growing green skills sector.”

The rebuild would see the main college property replaced with a modern building equipped with facilities including a mock hospital ward and digital technology suite.

The proposals would also see a renewable energy technology centre opened on the campus, to help the college expand its work in the sustainability sector.