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14
Jan
Council accused of “riding roughshod” over Knaresborough
Knaresborough’s bid to take control of its weekly market is being thwarted by lengthy delays getting key information, a meeting has heard.
North Yorkshire Council invited town and parish councils to submit expressions of interest to run local services in November 2022.
It was part of the new council’s double devolution agenda, which it said would give people greater control of local assets at a time when political power was being centralised in Northallerton.
Knaresborough Town Council’s expression was successful, and it was invited to enter talks in October 2023. But 15 months on, it is still struggling to get answers to questions that will determine whether it wants to proceed.
Last week’s meeting of Knaresborough & District Chamber heard how tortuous the process has been.
Councillor James Pickard told the meeting:
There are still so many anomalies from North Yorkshire Council and until we get key information we can’t move forward.
Cllr Pickard, who runs an event management company, said the town council had to consider taking responsibility for road closures as well as the installation, transportation and storage of the market stalls, and until it had responses from Northallerton it was unable to work up a business case.
He said it took a five-person crew six hours to build 64 stalls for last month’s two-day Knaresborough Christmas Market. The weekly market typically gets about half as many traders.
Chamber director Peter Lacey accused North Yorkshire Council of “riding roughshod” over Knaresborough Town Council by announcing last year it was going to end its current arrangements for erecting stalls while the double devolution process was underway.
The council wants to stop paying staff to put up stalls and force traders to erect their own to save money and harmonise its approach across the county.
North Yorkshire Council has since said it will hold off on the process until talks on the market’s future are resolved.
Bill Taylor, who along with Stephen Teggin has been campaigning with traders to save Knaresborough Market, said:
People want clarity. We have started losing traders. Imposing this harmonisation will be catastrophic.
Mr Teggin said Harrogate Borough Council had “run down” the market in the final years before it was abolished.
The chamber agreed to contact the town council requesting Mr Taylor and Mr Teggin be included in its talks to take over the market.
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