REVEALED: Blow for North Yorkshire Council as £20 million funding bid for Harrogate Convention Centre rejected by government

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced the long-anticipated winners of the third round of Levelling Up Fund earlier, with more than £1.1 billion awarded to 55 schemes — but Harrogate was not on the list.

Unlike the first two rounds, councils were not invited to make formal bids to be chosen for funding.

Instead, the government selected the best bids from round two that were not chosen last time.

The government scored each bid out of 100 with criteria including deliverability and the characteristics of each place.

The news will come as a blow but not necessarily a surprise to North Yorkshire Council.

Previously published feedback on the Harrogate Convention Centre bid described it as “relatively strong” but said it lacked “evidence and rationale” into how the proposals would increase business.

The council has still not decided if it will proceed with a £49 million refurbishment of the facility which it inherited from the defunct Harrogate Borough Council.

A contractor has been appointed to draw up more detailed plans for the redevelopment and a final decision was expected this year.

The Harrogate Convention Centre opened in 1982 with conferences providing a boost to the town’s bars, restaurants and hotels, however, it has struggled to turned a profit.

It’s hoped the refurbishment would help the facility compete with other conference venues in the north but it remains unclear how North Yorkshire Council, which is looking to slash £70 million from its budget over the next three years, will pay for it.

North Yorkshire Council’s Corporate Director for Community Development, Nic Harne, said: “We received £19 million from the second round of levelling up funding for redeveloping Catterick Garrison’s town centre.

"We are disappointed that other projects have not been allocated funding under the department’s assessment process and will be seeking feedback on why those schemes were not prioritised.

“Our bids were submitted by the former councils and we could not put any further bids in.”