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20
Dec 2022
Calls for North Yorkshire Council to hand local areas more powers
A senior county councillor has backed giving greater powers to North Yorkshire Council area constituency committees.
Currently, county councillors in parliamentary constituency areas such as Harrogate and Knaresborough meet every two months to discuss and debate issues from education and transport to housing and the environment.
These area constituency committees can propose motions and make recommendations to the council’s executive, but in practice, the bodies have little power.
The impending abolition of the seven district councils in North Yorkshire will concentrate decision-making into the hands of the new unitary authority in Northallerton, which has led to concerns that local councillors will find it harder to influence decisions affecting their areas.
However, Conservative councillor for Mid-Craven, Simon Myers, who also has responsibility for planning on the council’s executive, said he supports area committees “taking some of the burden” off North Yorkshire Council.
He said:
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At a meeting of the Skipton and Ripon’s area committee last week, Andy Brown, Green Party councillor for Aire Valley, said local government reorganisation presented an opportunity for area constituency committees to become “more than talking shops”.
Cllr Brown said:
Last week, North Yorkshire County Council announced the new authority will create six new planning committees to oversee decisions across parliamentary constituency areas to run alongside the current area committees.
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