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18
Mar
‘Somewhat worrying’: Council leader to meet mayor over £7 million highways cut
The Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council is to meet with Labour mayor David Skaith to discuss a “somewhat worrying” £7 million highways funding cut.
Cllr Carl Les told a full council meeting in Northallerton this morning (March 18) “negotiations were ongoing” with the mayor amid concern that the York-based mayor was diverting money from North Yorkshire to York.
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, the Stray Ferret reported yesterday that Mr Skaith has proposed changing the formula for the allocation which could see North Yorkshire Council handed £52 million from a government-recommended £59 million for 2026/27.
The other £7 million would be diverted to City of York Council.
Cllr Andrew Williams, a member of the council's controlling Conservatives and Independents group who represents Ripon Minster and Moorside, asked about the issue at today's meeting.
Cllr Les replied the changes could see the council lose out on millions.
He said:
The mayor has suggested that he should change the distribution whereas previously York got seven or eight percent of the total pot and we got 92 or 93 percent of the total pot. Now, the mayor is suggesting that should be a 90 percent and 10 percent split.
That is suggested as a minor change. A minor change, actually, which would mean we lose potentially something like £7 million a year. We understood that these changes would be part of a negotiation over the next 12 months ready for next year’s implementation.
We now find that it is being proposed for this year, which is somewhat worrying. Especially as at the moment we are out to tender for many of the projects that we have built into our capital programme for the coming year.
The full council. meeting on March 18.
Cllr Les said a meeting between Mr Skaith, Cllr Gareth Dadd, deputy leader of the council, and the leader and deputy leader of City of York Council is set to take place tonight to discuss the planned changes.
He added:
I’m not sure what is going to come out of those meetings, which is why I hesitate to give you a definitive answer Cllr Williams. But the situation is worrying to say the least.
‘Dick Turpin reinvented’
It comes as Cllr Williams questioned the Labour mayor over the planned cut to funding at a combined authority scrutiny meeting yesterday.
The Ripon councillor compared the mayor’s proposals to “Dick Turpin reinvented”.
In response, Mr Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, demanded that Cllr Williams “keep his answers professional” and said he did not like being referred to as the 18th century highwayman.
The Labour mayor said the combined authority was still working on a formula for the funding allocation, but added that North Yorkshire would be receiving “more money than you have ever had”.
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority will discuss the funding settlement at a board meeting later this month.
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