North Yorkshire Council has no plan to display the majority of its £6.7m art collection after talks about using the former council chamber fell through.
The local authority reportedly owns 2,658 works of art, valued in 2019 at about £6.7m, with just 1% of the collection on public display.
It was suggested that the art could be housed at the former Harrogate Council offices at Crescent Gardens, but no agreement could be reached with the site’s current owner, Impala Estates.
North Yorkshire's corporate director of community development, Nic Harne, said: ‘Currently, we remain open to discussions about lending and borrowing collections with other institutions and venues, as is common in the arts and heritage sector.
‘There are no immediate plans with Impala Estates, but we would consider opportunities in the future.’
The leader of the council's Labour Group, Steve Shaw-Wright, said: ‘I believe that the failure to display, or even plan to display the vast array of paintings, now held by North Yorkshire Council, is an example of the lack of vision of the council.’
Cllr Shaw-Wright added that with so many buildings within the council's control, ‘it should be easy to display some of the works held on behalf of the people’.
