A NORTH Yorkshire which has come under fire from the Health and Safety Executive because of the poor standard of some of its offices wants to ''borrow'' money from its neighbours to put things right.

Harrogate Borough Council needs a £210,000 extension to its technical services department headquarters at Knapping Mount, where staff are leaving because of inadequate, over-crowded office space.

There have been complaints from visitors who get annoyed and frustrated in a crowded reception area where there is a lack of accommodation for talks.

The council, which houses nearly 50 staff at Knapping Mount - a former private house - and its annexe in West Grove Road, Harrogate, has also come under fire from the executive.

Inspectors have criticised ''excessively overcrowded offices causing considerable staff discomfort and disquiet.'' The annexe, intended to last for 10 years, was built in 1973-74.

Chief engineer for construction and building management, Martin Weeks, says providing additional temporary space is the only way the council can afford to ease the lot of workers and visitors to the planning and highways departments.

So a two-storey extension to the annexe and a roof extension to the main block will provide another 214 square metres of space, at an estimated cost of £210,000.

The council will use borrowing approvals granted to North Yorkshire neighbours Hambleton and Ryedale to fund the scheme, which will mean debt charges of £19,000 a year.

In the last two years the planning department has shown a 15.2 per cent staff turnover, with the figure even higher in the customer services and resources division at 17.5 per cent.

Mr Weeks said: ''These are short-term solutions which are not entirely satisfactory. They are, however, the only ones that can be afforded at the present time.''

Updated: 09:11 Thursday, June 19, 2003