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    25

    Jan 2022

    Last Updated: 25/01/2022
    Politics
    Politics

    May 5 date set for first North Yorkshire Council elections

    by Thomas Barrett

    | 25 Jan, 2022
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    The current two-tier system, whereby North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council provide different services locally, will be replaced by a single-tier system with one council in charge of England’s largest county.

    nyccresized
    North Yorkshire County Council offices in Northallerton.

    Elections will take place on May 5 to elect councillors to the new North Yorkshire Council.

    The current two-tier system, where North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council provide different services locally, will be replaced by a single-tier system with one council in charge of England’s largest county.

    A Structural Changes Order laid before Parliament, which paves the way for the elections, has confirmed the new council will be called North Yorkshire Council.

    Councillors elected in May will serve on North Yorkshire County Council until April 1 2023 when they will move over to the new council.

    Existing Harrogate borough councillors will remain in place until North Yorkshire Council is created.

    There will be 90 new councillors in North Yorkshire Council, representing 89 divisions.



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    Conservative Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council said:

    “This is an exciting moment for North Yorkshire and one which I hope people will look back on in the future as a game-changer for the county’s economic fortunes. The new single council will give our county a much stronger voice regionally and nationally and allows us to bring together the very best of all eight councils to build the best possible new one.
    “These are very important elections, because the councillors voted in this May will serve the final year of the county council and then they will be the voice of the people for the first four years of the new single council."


    Background to the shake-up


    The government announced on July 21, 2021 there would be a new single council for North Yorkshire.

    The first day of the new North Yorkshire Council will be 1 April 2023.

    On the first day of the new council, the current North Yorkshire County Council, the borough councils of Harrogate and Scarborough and the district councils serving Craven, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Ryedale and Selby will cease to exist.

    Until then all eight councils in the county will continue to run their own services and make their own decisions, while working together on the change programme.