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15
Jul
Council drops legal challenge against mayor's roads funding decision
North Yorkshire Council has dropped a legal challenge against the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire’s decision to reallocate funding for road repairs.
In March, Mr Skaith, the Labour Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, changed the government's funding formula for highways maintenance.
The move diverted £20 million of funding for potholes and other road repair schemes away from Conservative-controlled North Yorkshire Council and towards Labour-run City of York Council between 2026 and 2030.
It infuriated North Yorkshire Council, which claimed that cuts to the county's highways budget will severely impact the state of its roads.
Senior Conservatives described the move as “disgraceful” and the council sent a pre-action letter to the combined authority threatening to take the decision to judicial review.
Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire Council, pictured in January 2024.
However, at a full council meeting on Wednesday (July 15), Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of the council, confirmed that the authority would not be pursuing the legal challenge.
Cllr Les said he had met with Mr Skaith in a meeting held online the day before the council’s own judicial review deadline.
He said:
It was clear that he would hold his line about proportions, improvements and the mayor’s pothole fund. It was also clear to me that this is actually his privilege and this privileged position is only going to grow in time, especially with the likely new Prime Minister next week.
As such, I saw little point in spending money on a judicial review process. However, in the spirit of wanting to work together rather than against each other, we have agreed that our officer teams will meet to discuss the local transport plan to see if we can come up with more common ground before the decision-making time in October.
But, I can say that if the mayor uses his privilege position to disadvantage the residents of North Yorkshire in our view then we reserve the right to call it out at that time.
The move comes after York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which Mr Skaith chairs, said previously that it was satisfied that it had acted “legally and appropriately” in its decision making.
Meanwhile, the Stray Ferret sent a freedom of information request to the combined authority asking for correspondence with the council on the issue of the Mayoral Transport Fund and how it was allocated.
In a response issued last month, the combined authority declined to provide the information on the grounds of “preserving legal professional privilege”.
The authority said the correspondence included legal advice concerning the ongoing legal challenge from North Yorkshire Council.
The Stray Ferret has requested an internal review into the decision.
What was the dispute about?
The Department for Transport (DfT) 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 resulted in more money for 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.
Mr Skaith has defended the decision, and described it as "record investment" into fixing the region's roads.
But North Yorkshire Council has challenged the decision and threatened to take it to a judicial review.
The combined authority told the Stray Ferret in May it had responded "robustly” to the letter and was satisfied it had acted “legally and appropriately” in its decision making.
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