Sources have told the Stray Ferret that Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper will stand down as a councillor next year and leave local government.

Multiple senior political figures have reported to us that the Conservative, who has been council leader since 2014, will not seek re-election when the Harrogate district next goes to the polls in May 2022.

He is expected to continue in his role as office manager for the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Andrew Jones.

With Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council set to be abolished and replaced by a new single authority for North Yorkshire, the number of councillors in the Harrogate district is likely to be halved from 40 to 20.

Cllr Cooper, who represents Harrogate Central, has been on Harrogate Borough Council since 1999.

In 2013, he was also elected to represent Harrogate Central on North Yorkshire County Council.

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Cllr Cooper has been at the helm during the borough council's move from Crescent Gardens to the Civic Centre, the development of the Harrogate district Local Plan, which outlines where development can take place in the district, the staging of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate and proposals for a £47m redevelopment of Harrogate Convention Centre.

The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Cooper if he would like to comment on the speculation but he asked us to direct the inquiry to the Harrogate Borough Council press office.

However, the press office said it would not comment because it was a political matter for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Party.