Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
12
May
Mayor accused of 'disgraceful' attack on North Yorkshire pothole funding
Tory-run North Yorkshire Council is urging Labour mayor David Skaith to reconsider a decision that will mean £20 million less to spend on local roads.
Government transport funding is now allocated via the mayoral combined authorities rather than directly to councils.
In March, Mr Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, changed the government's funding formula for highways maintenance, which diverted £4 million of North Yorkshire’s 2026/27 allocation to Labour-run City of York Council.
North Yorkshire Council says it will lose £20 million between 2026 and 2030 because of the move.
Mr Skaith and party colleagues at City of York Council clashed with North Yorkshire Council's Conservative leader and deputy leader over allegations that cuts to the county's highways budget will severely impact the state of its roads.
This morning, senior councillors on the council’s executive recommended the authority use the next full council meeting on May 20 to urge Mr Skaith to reconsider his decision and “get back round the table”.
Cllrs Carl Les (left) and Gareth Dadd.
'Disgraceful attack'
Cllr Gareth Dadd, the Conservative deputy leader of North Yorkshire Council, said the move to change the formula was “politicised”.
He said:
On what basis does the mayor think he has got more honed skills than professional highways officers in either York or North Yorkshire to decide and direct the allocation of funds when it should be done on an objective basis?
That is the biggest point of contention.
Cllr Dadd added:
Frankly, I have never seen anything so disgraceful. It is an attack on rural North Yorkshire by a York mayor.
Cllr Malcolm Taylor, executive councillor for highways, said the changes to funding were “unpalatable” and moved that the council call on Mr Skaith to honour his pledge to work for the whole of York and North Yorkshire.
The council started legal action against the combined authority over the funding decision in April.
In a letter before action sent by assistant chief executive Barry Khan, the council claimed legal errors were made when the decision was taken on March 27, which means the outcome was unlawful.
The council claimed that the decision needed Cllr Les, as leader of North Yorkshire Council, to be in agreement, while it also alleges that the mayor prevented Cllr Dadd from moving an amendment to the budget proposal, which is a breach of the constitution.
Cllr Carl Les, leader of the council, said his authority was taking the action because the budget decision was “prejudicial to the residents of North Yorkshire”.
David Skaith
'Political stunt'
In response, Mr Skaith described the move as a “political stunt” and that the council’s action was “beyond regrettable”.
He added:
It’s a political stunt which could waste thousands and thousands of pounds of taxpayer money. I think the public will see it for what it is, the Tories using public money to fight against getting more investment every year for the next four years.
That record investment will now have to be paused. That stings so much because they sat back quietly when the last Conservative government actually did cut their roads funding two years in a row.
I wasn’t elected to carry on the business as usual that has failed communities across North Yorkshire for decades.
What is the dispute about?
The Department for Transport has allocated £456 million in transport funding to York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which the mayor oversees, over the next four years.
The combined authority then distributes the funding to both City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council for highways schemes.
However, in March, Mr Skaith approved changes to the formula, which he said result in more money to both councils to fix the region’s roads over the next four years.
The DfT employs a highways funding ratio of 92.7/7.3, with North Yorkshire Council receiving the greater of those two shares, and City of York Council receiving the smaller portion.
But Mr Skaith's plans change the formula to 90/10, meaning that a total of £4 million in funds which would have come to North Yorkshire Council are now due to be redirected to City of York Council under the proposals.
The overall sum received by both councils will increase — but altering the formula has infuriated Conservatives in North Yorkshire.
As reported previously, the plans prompted Ripon Minster and Moorside councillor Andrew Williams to compare Mr Skaith to Dick Turpin, the notorious 18th-century highwayman.
North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Cllr Les, also described the proposals as "somewhat worrying", and said that a reduction in highways maintenance funding would accentuate already intense funding pressures.
0