How we broke the news of a senior councillor's resignation

It costs as little as 14p a day to subscribe to the Stray Ferret. You get access to about 100 articles a week focused exclusively on local news. Please support independent local journalism and subscribe here.

The Stray Ferret was the first to report the news that councillor Keane Duncan had resigned as North Yorkshire Council’s highways chief this month.

Rarely a week has gone by in the past few years when Cllr Duncan hasn’t been in the Stray Ferret. His remit covered areas we know Stray Ferret subscribers are really interested in – endless roadworks, potholes, the Station Gateway and Kex Gill to name a few. His resignation has real consequences.

Being the first to report he’d stepped down wasn’t down to luck.

The Stray Ferret focuses on local politics more than any other news organisation in North Yorkshire. We are often the only media organisation attending meetings of Ripon City Council, Harrogate Town Council and Knaresborough Town Council. We also tune in to live online meetings of North Yorkshire Council and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Most other local media don’t bother because it’s quicker and easier to re-write press releases. Local politics can seem a little dull too. But the councillors we take time to report on make big decisions that affect our lives. Being able to accurately and swiftly report local political news is one of our main missions.

We were the first to report the £13.7 million increase in the cost of the A59 road realignment at Kex Gill, a decision which will have a significant impact on local council taxpayers. Keane Duncan’s resignation, announced shortly afterwards, raises questions on the future of Kex Gill and the £12.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme.

Our detailed coverage of these issues meant we were the first media organisation contacted by insiders to alert us to his resignation. I spent the day talking to our sources about what was going on and its implications not only for Cllr Duncan but also for the wider political agenda. His resignation letter to the council leader Carl Les, which was forwarded to us, fuelled speculation that Cllr Duncan may be planning a Tory leadership bid in the run-up to the 2027 council elections.

We were very grateful they came to us first; but they did so because they know we dig deeper than others and they trust us to report local politics accurately.

Thank you for your subscription. It means we can spend time at sometimes boring council meetings on your behalf and make sure you get to hear about what matters.

When it came to Keane Duncan’s resignation, subscription really did give you the full story.

We have a target of 5,000 subscriptions so every one counts. Thank you.