Taxpayers may save in hall deal

The historic building ran up losses of more than £350,000 last year which had to be met from Harrogate Council’s budget.

Last night the authority’s Cabinet voted through plans to explore bringing in a private operator to lease the hall from the council or run it on the council’s behalf.

The Royal Hall is run by the Harrogate International Centre (HIC) – an arms-length organisation owned by the council.

HIC’s director Angus Houston has now been asked to produce a report, by the autumn, considering bringing in a third party to lease or manage the venue.

Council leader Don Mackenzie said he was confident this would result in a better deal for the taxpayer as the chosen company would be better placed to run the venue than the council.

He said a commercial operator might generate income from the hall through ticket sales or from a fee from the council if it was managing the venue for the authority.

The hall was built in 1903 and was originally called the Kursaal.