North Yorkshire devolution deal could be done by summer

A devolution deal for North Yorkshire that includes a directly elected mayor could be reached by summer, according to the leader of the county council.

County council officials have met with senior civil servants after the government included a deal for the county as part of its levelling up white paper in February.

Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of North Yorkshire County Council, and Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat leader of City of York Council, have also met with ministers to discuss devolution in North Yorkshire and York.

Council officials submitted a list of requests for devolved powers to government in December 2020 but negotiations were delayed by covid and the publication of the levelling up white paper.

In a statement to a full council meeting next week, Cllr Les will say that it is possible a deal could be reached by the parliamentary summer recess in July.

He says:

“What is clear is that all asks will need to be negotiated with vigour – the principle of devolution has been agreed, there is no automatic right of passage.

“Myself and the leader of City of York Council have had a first meeting with the responsible minister where he observed that we were first in the queue and he hoped we would maintain that position.

“There is a possibility that a deal can be done before the parliamentary summer recess.”

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Ministers made it a requirement that a unitary council for North Yorkshire be established before any negotiations about a devolution deal could proceed. Last week’s elections for the new North Yorkshire Council brought that to fruition.

In December 2020, council bosses submitted to government a 140-page document which outlined £2.4 billion worth of spending and proposals to take back further powers from Westminster.

More powers over transport, skills, regeneration and energy were included in the submission, as well as a mayoral funding pot worth £750 million over 25 years.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of the county council, said previously that the timetable for devolution negotiations could see an elected mayor in place by May 2024.

The mayor could have powers over areas such as transport and economic development. They could also take on the role as police and crime commissioner.

The negotiations come as the Conservatives retained control on the county council following the local elections last week, but with a smaller majority.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Cllr Les said he was willing to work with any party over the issue of devolution and local government reorganisation.

He said:

“It has always been my policy in the county council to reach out to other groups and to talk with them.

“I will continue to do that.”

Jonathan Dyson set to be North Yorkshire’s new chief fire officer

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has selected her preferred candidate to be the county’s chief fire officer.

Zoe Metcalfe has chosen Jonathan Dyson for the role. Mr Dyson is currently the interim deputy chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Jon Foster, who is the current interim chief fire officer, will retire from the service after 38 years.

Mr Dyson started his career in South Yorkshire, where he held roles as head of training and head of service delivery.

He joined the North Yorkshire service in 2020 as director of assurance, leading and delivering organisational change, and was appointed interim deputy chief fire officer last year.

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Mr Dyson will be recommended to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel for appointment.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“I’m delighted to choose Jonathan Dyson as my preferred candidate for the role of chief fire officer, who I believe will be excellent at leading the service into the future and continue to keep people safe and feeling safe in North Yorkshire and York.

“Having worked within our service for the past two years, and most recently as interim deputy chief fire officer, Jonathan is someone who knows our community, has the respect of his colleagues, and is committed to creating an even stronger and more sustainable service.

“I look forward to Jonathan’s suitability being approved at the upcoming Police, Fire and Crime Panel’s confirmation hearing later this month, and from there working with him to deliver a modern, inclusive, responsive, and respected organisation that protects people and property, and saves lives.”

Mr Dyson said:

“I feel truly honoured to be the preferred candidate for the role of chief fire officer and privileged to continue serving the public of North Yorkshire and York. I will build on the outstanding contribution Jon Foster has made on behalf of the Service, and I wish him the very best on his next venture.

“I want to ensure North Yorkshire remains one of the safest places in the country to live, work, or visit. My desire is to continue building an inclusive, sustainable organisation by transforming our service delivery. A key priority is to develop our partnerships, ensuring our staff, volunteers and partners feel valued and able to be their very best for our communities.”

Surface dressing on local roads begins under new contractor

A new surface dressing programme has begun on roads in North Yorkshire this month.

North Yorkshire County Council has hired a new contractor to carry out this year’s work, which the local authority said can extend the life of a road surface by up to 10 years.

The 2022 programme, which will cover about 200 miles, will be the first delivered by NY Highways, the roads maintenance company created by the county council last year.

NY Highways has recruited Birmingham road construction firm Kiely Bros as its contractor.

Ross Bullerwell, managing director of NY Highways, said:

“Over the past four months we have worked with Kiely Bros to prepare them for the contract, to make sure they understand what we demand in terms of finish and quality.

“The company has already been providing white lining services for us and we have received good local feedback about their work.”

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A press release issued by the council today described surface dressing as “a quick, efficient and cost-effective way of maintaining skid-resistant and waterproof road surfaces”.

The process involves spraying the surface with bitumen, then spreading stone chippings on top and rolling these into the bitumen. Once the bitumen has set, the road is swept to remove any loose chippings.

Weather warning

Barrie Mason, assistant director highways and transportation at the county council, said:

“We know the value of surface dressing from experience. It is vital in maintaining the condition of our roads network. That’s why it is a key component of our annual roads maintenance programme.

“Year after year, through the programme we enhance the quality of sections of our road network. This is crucial in ensuring that businesses, residents and visitors can travel with confidence.”

Signs should go up at each location before work starts to alert residents and drivers.

Mr Mason warned the programme can be affected by weather, adding:

“This can makes communicating exact dates challenging, so we urge residents to check the advance site signage regularly. The contractor will amend this to highlight any change in the schedule.

“After a stretch of road has been treated, it is important for drivers to heed the temporary speed limit put in place while the new surface stabilises to prevent damage to their own vehicle and those of other road users.”

For more information about surface dressing, click here.

Harrogate district village wins eight-year battle for more planning control

A small parish council in the Harrogate district has won an eight-year campaign to have greater control over local planning decisions.

Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council started creating a neighbourhood plan in 2014 amid concerns about green space being lost to developers.

Last week, villagers overwhelmingly approved the adoption of the plan in a referendum by 78 votes to seven.

Neighbourhood plans, which were introduced by the government in the Localism Act 2011, set out planning policies for a local area.

They must have regard to national planning policy and conform with local development plans — in this case the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which sets out where development can take place.

Roecliffe

Once adopted by a local referendum, the local authority is obliged to consider it as part of the planning process, which according to the government makes the plans “important and powerful tools that gives communities statutory powers to shape how their communities develop”.

Jim Bolland

Jim Bolland

Jim Bolland, chair of Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council, has led the campaign to create a plan, which he believes is the first by a small village in the Harrogate district. He told the Stray Ferret:

“We are delighted. We did this because we didn’t want too many new houses in Roecliffe and Westwick.

“There are a lot of major businesses on the road from Boroughbridge to Roecliffe and we want to preserve a green channel. Housing has got a little bit out of control in the Boroughbridge area, in my opinion.”

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Mr Bolland urged other parish councils to consider creating neighbourhood plans.

He said Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council initially expected the process to take two years rather than eight, and advised any groups going down the route to be proactive and start early rather than wait for a major planning application because the process wouldn’t be quick enough to influence individual applications.

Roecliffe neighbourhood plan

Nevertheless Mr Bolland, who is stepping down as chairman next week, said the plans were worth the effort:

“If parish councils feel they have a lot of land that could be built upon then it is well worth doing.”

The referendum result was announced at last week’s North Yorkshire Council local election count in Harrogate.

 

 

 

 

Stray Ferret’s election coverage attracts record audience

The Stray Ferret’s live election blog on Friday attracted the highest daily traffic ever to the site.

A total of 23,000 unique users logged on to the site on Friday, generating 65,000 page views.

Of these, 26,000 were for our live election blog, which provided regular updates from the count on a dramatic day of local politics.

The Stray Ferret provided the most comprehensive coverage of the historic election for the new North Yorkshire Council, profiling all candidates in the 21 Harrogate district divisions, as well as staging a local hustings event that put readers’ questions to candidates.

Tamsin O’Brien, director of the Stray Ferret, said:

“One of the reasons the site was founded was to increase interest in local democracy and the large blog following shows just how many people are engaged in political issues.

“We look forward to providing detailed political coverage of the new North Yorkshire Council as it comes into existence in 10 months time, replacing Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.”

 

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Tories appoint leader for new North Yorkshire Council

Former service station owner and ex-butcher Carl Les has been selected to lead the new Conservative-run North Yorkshire Council.

The Catterick councillor faced no opposition from the 46 other Tory councillors at the North Yorkshire County Council Conservative group’s annual meeting at Northallerton Methodist Church Hall yesterday.

Cllr Les, 72, is the current leader of North Yorkshire County Council, which is being abolished along with the seven district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, next year.

It means he will solidify his position as the most powerful politician in the Harrogate district and the rest of North Yorkshire.

Cllr Les’ name will be put forward as leader of the authority at the first meeting of its 90 elected members on Wednesday next week.

If, as expected, he is elected he will then go on to select councillors to serve on the authority’s decision-making executive.

It is not known whether any from Harrogate will hold senior posts. Harrogate-based Don Mackenzie, the executive member for access at the county council, did not seek re-election at last week’s election.

Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper also did not seek re-election and his deputy, Graham Swift, lost the vote in his division.

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Cllr Les has been at the helm of the county council since 2015, having sold his business Leeming Bar Services, near Bedale, to Moto the year before.

He has also played a leading role in a spectrum of influential bodies including North Yorkshire Youth, Welcome to Yorkshire, the Local Enterprise Partnership, Citizens Advice and the Police and Crime Panel.

Thirsk’s Gareth Dadd to be deputy leader 

After a challenge from a Conservative member who has not been named, the Tory group meeting saw Thirsk councillor Gareth Dadd elected as its deputy leader, a role which he has also held for seven years.

Gareth Dadd

Following the meeting, senior Tories said they hoped the decisions would end the district and borough councillor versus county councillor rivalries that have existed for decades within Conservative ranks in North Yorkshire.

Political commentators have described the pair as “pragmatic One Nation Conservatives who above all prioritise vulnerable people who are unable to help themselves”.

They have stated the top of their agenda is to ensure a smooth transition to the new unitary authority next May, squeezing out savings from the reorganisation and to get devolution.

The meeting also saw councillors Tom Jones, of Bedale, Tim Grogan, of Monk Fryston and South Milford, and Esk Valley member Clive Pearson appointed to serve as whips, acting as the leadership’s “eyes and ears” in the Tory group, which has seen its majority shrink by about 20 per cent.

When asked if the group’s whips would be busier due to the decreased majority, Cllr Les said:

“They will have work to do to make sure people are getting to meetings or whatever.

“Not only do we have a majority over all the other parties, albeit a slim one of only two, but not everybody who is not a Conservative is against the Conservative proposals. As I did for the previous five years I will be reaching out to other members and groups to work on a common agenda as we are all there to serve the people of North Yorkshire.”

North Yorkshire leadership to be discussed at local Tory AGM today

North Yorkshire’s Conservative councillors will gather today for their annual general meeting with discussions on who will lead the new authority on the agenda.

After losses across the county, the Conservatives now hold 47 out of 90 seats on the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council.

Despite having overall control, the Conservatives have a greatly reduced majority. Whoever leads the new authority will face the challenge of dealing with a larger group of opposing parties.

Cllr Carl Les, the current leader of North Yorkshire County Council, has confirmed he intends to stand as leader once again but his position is by no means certain.

There’s also deputy leader, group secretary and whip roles to be filled.

Councillors have had to put themselves forward ahead of the meeting and it will be down to those at today’s AGM to vote them in.

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Talking about Friday’s results, Cllr Carl Les said:

“It has been a sizeable event for us in terms of seats, we’ve gone from 55 out of 72 to 47 out of 90. The council will look very different.

“Whenever you have an election, people often bring up national matters and this time there were a lot of matters on a national level such as Partygate.

“I wish people were more concerned about looking at what we do locally rather than on national issues.”

He said moving forward the main aim would be to work collaboratively with new councillors to ensure a “smooth transition” as devolution gets underway.

“We have to work together as a group, it’s vitally important. Whatever party you are there’s always difference between us but there’s an awful lot that binds us together.

One of the main things is ensuring a smooth transition from eight divisions to one. When it comes to things like bin collection local people shouldn’t feel a difference.”

 

Stunning Green win in Ouseburn sets blueprint for future collaborations

New Green Party councillor for the Ouseburn division, Arnold Warneken, said he is looking forward to working with other political parties in the new North Yorkshire Council.

Cllr Warneken beat Conservative candidate Richard Musgrave decisively, by 1,328 votes to 586 in a two-horse race.

There was no Liberal Democrat candidate standing after the party agreed to step aside to help the Greens unseat Mr Musgrave.

In Cllr Warneken’s acceptance speech, he suggested the local Conservative Party had “lost their conscience” and the result sent a message to other parties to work together around a common purpose based on decency.

He said:

“I will work with anybody, whatever their party is, as long as they are honest, transparent, have integrity and tell the truth.”

A blank canvas

Cllr Warneken told the Stray Ferret afterwards that the result has given him hope that environmental issues are now vote winners.

He said:

“There are all sorts of challenges and it’s a blank canvas.”

Cllr Warneken was a Green Party councillor in the 1990s and will join his old friend, the Lib Dem councillor Pat Marsh, in the new chamber.

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Cllr Warneken said he believes he still would have won even if the Liberal Democrats had put a candidate forward, due to his huge majority. He said the Tory candidate was “complacent” throughout the campaign.

Mr Musgrave did not attend the count to hear the verdict.

Echoing the words of Labour’s Margaret Smith during her speech at the election count, after failing to win Oatlands and Pannal, Cllr Warneken said the time had come for a proportional representation voting system.

He said:

“If we had PR we’d have more candidates from minor parties.”

Collaborate

Next door to the count in the Harrogate Convention Centre yesterday was The Assemblies of God conference, where over 500 different churches were meeting.

In previous local council elections, it has felt like most Green candidates haven’t had a prayer of winning.

But Shan Oakes, the local party coordinator, said Mr Warneken’s win was “a real story” locally.

He will join four other North Yorkshire-based Green Party councillors on the new authority.

Ms Oakes added:

“The world is coming to its senses. It’s given us hope.

“We face serious existential issues. We have the climate crisis and we have to green up out town.”

Ms Oakes said she hopes parties can agree to step aside in future, but thinks it will be a tough ask.

“It was a real struggle to get the one that we did.”

What cost the Tories votes in the Harrogate district?

It was a dire set of results on the whole for the Conservative Party in the district.

Several high-profile councillors including Graham Swift, Stan Lumley and Phil Ireland failed to win a seat on the new North Yorkshire Council and became major scalps for the Liberal Democrats.

Out of the 21 divisions up for grabs in the present Harrogate district area, the Conservatives will now have 9 councillors. It means they will be a much less powerful force locally.

The ‘partygate’ scandal involving Boris Johnson has dominated the news for months. But some of the Harrogate district’s winning Conservatives gave diplomatic responses when asked by the Stray Ferret if that had been a factor in the party’s poor performance.

Nathan Hull, the new Tory councillor for Washburn and Birstwith, picked his words carefully:

He said:

“It’s up to MPs to look at how the party collectively operates. I can do nothing about that.”

Cllr Nathan Hull

Mr Hull said he is up for working with other parties on local issues.

“I’m focused on rural issues and schools. I’ll try not to be too partisan. We all want the same thing.”

Andrew Paraskos, the new Conservative councillor for Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale and Tockwith, said he was pleased to win, despite a bad day for many of his colleagues.

Cllr Andrew Paraskos

“It was a mixed bag on the doorstep. It was mainly the cost of living crisis and general unhappiness.”

Paul Haslam, the winning Conservative candidate for Bilton & Nidd Gorge, said he focused on local issues such as the closure of Woodfield school and anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Paul Haslam

He said:

“I’m absolutely delighted to have been supported. I will continue to fight for the people of Bilton.”

On why the Conservatives had difficult results. He added:

“It’s a tricky question. The national picture is difficult. On Boris Johnson, there had been feedback on the doorstep that suggested people are not happy.”

On the doorstep

Several of the victorious Liberal Democrats candidates said Boris Johnson was not the main issue from residents on the doorstep.

Rather, they said people were angry at the way the Conservative-led Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council had handled things like housing and the state of Harrogate town centre.

Veteran Lib Dem councillor Pat Marsh, who won Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone, said:

Cllr Pat Marsh

“On the doorstep we didn’t get so much about Boris Johnson. What we got was the state of the town centre, litter, street cleaning and no new investment. What have they done in 20 years?”

Monika Slater, the new Lib Dem councillor for Bilton Grange and New Park added:

“It’s a mix. Boris Johnson played a part but people in Harrogate are really fed up. They see Harrogate in decline and think things need to change.”

Cllr Monika Slater

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Major scalp

Conservative Graham Swift was tipped as a potential leader of the new North Yorkshire Council.

But his defeat now likely spells the end of his political career once Harrogate Borough Council is abolished next year.

Cllr Swift has been council leader Richard Cooper’s deputy at HBC and has been a forceful presence in the council chamber.

He gave a gracious speech that congratulated the new Lib Dem councillor for Coppice Valley & Duchy, Peter Lacey, but he knew the result well before it was announced and looked ashen-faced whilst he sat with other Conservatives.

The independent candidate in the division, Daniel Thompson, won 199 votes. He said he “got what he wanted” with Cllr Swift losing the vote, despite not winning himself.

Cllr Swift declined to speak to the Stray Ferret.

What does this mean for Andrew Jones MP?

Conservative MP for Harrogate & Knaresborough, Andrew Jones, looked on as HBC chief executive Wallace Sampson announced the results.

Daniel Thompson said “look out Andrew Jones” during his concession speech, which reflected the feeling of several Liberal Democrat councillors who were buoyed by their wins.

Phil Willis, the last and only Liberal Democrat MP in Harrogate & Knaresborough, tweeted that the result in Harrogate was “sensational”.

Retiring Conservative county councillor Don Mackenzie optimistically told the Stray Ferret he expects the national picture to be different when the next general election comes around.

“Covid and the cost of living crisis, these things will settle down. When it comes to the general election it will be a much more benign national picture”.

Mr Jones was at the count but declined to talk to the Stray Ferret, waving us away without saying a word.

Andrew Jones MP

Lib Dems victorious in Harrogate district

Jubilant Liberal Democrats are celebrating after winning the most divisions in the Harrogate division today.

But the Conservatives won enough divisions across the county overall to secure control of the new North Yorkshire Council.

Ten Liberal Democrat councillors were elected in the district, compared with nine Conservatives, one Green and one Independent.

Pat Marsh, leader of the local Liberal Democrats, said the result meant her party would take control of the Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee.

This means the Liberal Democrats could have a bigger voice on issues such as planning and highways. Cllr Marsh said:

“It’s a pleasure to see some really good people elected to the council, who want to represent their communities rather than just hold the title of councillor.

“Liberal Democrats will have a stronger voice and we will work with others.”

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Matt Walker, who was elected for the Liberal Democrats in Knaresborough West, said:

“We had a plan and exceeded what we were aiming for. We will be able to influence things more.”

Conservatives win majority in North Yorkshire

Across the county as a whole, the Conservatives won 47 divisions — one more than required for an overall majority.

Independents won 13, the Liberal Democrats and Labour both won 12, the Greens won five and the Liberal Party won one.

We will have further reaction and analysis from the local elections shortly.