page_title: Harrogate
section_title: Governance
hierarchical_section_title: Harrogate / Governance
caption_attribution_description: English: Harrogate Town Hall Classical Victorian building in central Harrogate. The renovated statue is behind glass walls, underneath the cupola - formerly at the gateshead Garden Festival. http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/harrogate-4065
context_page_description: Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. 13 miles away from the town centre is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. For three consecutive years, polls voted the town as "the happiest place to live" in Britain.
  Harrogate spa water contains iron, sulphur and common salt. The town became known as 'The English Spa' in the Georgian era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its 'chalybeate' waters were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.
  Harrogate railway station and Harrogate bus station in the town centre provide transport connections. Leeds Bradford Airport is 10 miles southwest of Harrogate. The main roads through the town are the A61, connecting Harrogate to Leeds and Ripon, and the A59, connecting the town to York and Skipton.
context_section_description: In 1884 the Municipal Borough of Harrogate was created, taking High Harrogate from the civil parish of Bilton with Harrogate and Low Harrogate from the civil parish of Pannal.  The borough absorbed neighbouring areas in subsequent years, including the whole of the civil parishes of Bilton and Starbeck, and a large part of the civil parish of Pannal, including the village of Pannal, in 1938.  The municipal borough was abolished in 1974, when Harrogate was transferred from the West Riding to North Yorkshire and became part of the wider Borough of Harrogate.  Harrogate then became an unparished area, with no local government of its own.
  The MP for the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency is Andrew Jones, a Conservative. He was elected in 2010, ousting the Liberal Democrats who had won the seat at the previous three general elections.  He subsequently won re-election in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 (albeit with a reduced majority) general elections.
  The town governed by Harrogate Borough Council, which since the 2010 election has had a Conservative majority.
  The Borough of Harrogate is twinned with:
   Bagnères-de-Luchon, France (since 1953)
   Barrie, Canada (since 2013)
   Harrogate, Tennessee, United States
   Montecatini Terme, Italy (since 1962)
   Wellington, New Zealand
caption: Harrogate Town Hall
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