Harrogate councillor tables alternative boundary proposals to government

A Harrogate councillor has submitted alternative boundary proposals for the unitary council in North Yorkshire after criticising the current ones as “unfair”.

Under plans due to be lodged to government by North Yorkshire County Council, the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough would be reduced to 13 with each representing an average of 6,194 residents – more than any other area in the county.

But, Liberal Democrat Cllr Philip Broadbank said the plans left the area underrepresented compared to the rest of the county.

The boundary changes were agreed for submission to the government by county council leader Carl Les at a meeting on Tuesday.

However Cllr Broadbank has now submitted his proposal, which would see 14 councillors in the area and the bring average residents per councillor to 5,751, directly to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In his submission, he told ministers:

“The working group set up to look into the matter has put forward proposals concerning the Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee which in my view makes this largest urban area in the county considerably under-represented on the new authority.”

On Tuesday, Cllr John Weighell, who led a cross-party working which came up with the plans, accepted that some residents would be underrepresented. But added that it was “absolutely the only way to maintain community identity”.

Cllr Weighell said the move would divide up town centre boundaries in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Among Cllr Broadbank’s suggestions was to add another councillor to the Stray and Hookstone ward and include Fairfax within the boundary.

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A decision on the boundaries for the unitary authority will be made by government at a later date.

The new boundaries will come into force when a shadow authority is elected to the new North Yorkshire council in March 2022.

They will stay in place until 2027 when the Boundary Commission will carry out a full review.

Borough council leader “content” with proposals

Meanwhile, Conservative Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said he would be “content” with either of the two proposals currently on the table.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the borough council would not be lodging an alternative proposal to government.

Cllr Cooper said:

“I do not believe the difference between having 13 or 14 councillors from the Harrogate district out of around 90 will make a material difference to our area’s influence on the new council.

“I would be content with either proposal although I think that the county council’s proposals have the edge on keeping like communities together.

“Since there are two acceptable proposals it does not seem sensible to try and submit a third.”

Cllr Cooper said the proposals should therefore only be seen as a temporary arrangement and that the “important point” is how key decisions which affect the Harrogate district are made by the new council.

He said:

“The county council is talking about giving power to locality-based committees to decide what is best for their area.

“This needs to be done effectively and, in my view, the county council does not have a great track record on this.

“Communities will find it difficult to trust the new council if it is seen as a means of grabbing power and influence by a remote group based in Northallerton.

“I am sure that the new authority will want to avoid this and will delegate real authority to Harrogate district councillors to make decisions that affect our area.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough would be most underrepresented under unitary council proposals

Harrogate and Knaresborough residents would be the most underrepresented in North Yorkshire under proposals to change councillor boundaries for the county’s new unitary authority.

The proposal, which will be submitted to the government by the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, would see the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough reduced to 13 with each representing an average of 6,194 residents.

This would be higher than all other constituency areas in the county.

There would be an average of 5,546 residents per councillor in Skipton and Ripon, 5,472 in Selby and Ainsty, 5,169 in Richmondshire, 5,099 in Thirsk and Malton, and 5,005 in Scarborough and Whitby.

It would also mean one councillor in Cayton, Scarborough would represent 3,680 residents, while another in Knaresborough Castle and Aspin would serve almost double that with 6,690.

The boundary changes were agreed for submission to the government by county council leader Carl Les at a meeting on Tuesday when concerns were raised that residents’ voices would be diluted and councillors’ workloads increased.

‘Unfair on people of Harrogate and Knaresborough’

Liberal Democrat Cllr Philip Broadbank, who represents the Starbeck area on both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, said the proposals were “particularly unfair on the people of Harrogate and Knaresborough”.

He said: 

“It just doesn’t seem right that one particular area, for some unknown reason, should be at a disadvantage to the rest of them.

“I do accept that when we tell voters we are going to reduce the number of councillors, most of them will say ‘oh good’.

“But I get angry about this because it is such an important issue. Electoral balance is absolutely vital if we want this new council to work and people to accept it is going to be fair and balanced.

“I just don’t understand why such a large area of people should be underrepresented.”

Cllr Broadbank also put forward separate proposals to increase the number of Harrogate and Knaresborough members on the new authority to 14, which would reduce the average residents per councillor to below 6,000.

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However, this was shut down by Cllr John Weighell, who led a cross-party working which came up with the plans to be submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for a decision.

Cllr Weighell said while he accepted some residents would be underrepresented, it would be “completely wrong” to break up town centre boundaries in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

‘Only way to maintain identity’

He also argued many currently serving councillors who sit on both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council already manage their workloads for a similar amount of residents.

He said:

“I do accept underrepresentation, I always have, but I think this is absolutely the only way to maintain community identity.

“Of the 18 Harrogate and Knaresborough members currently in the borough council area, 16 are twin-hatted and that says everything really.

“Some people are saying ‘we can’t represent that number of residents’ – but they are doing it already.”

If approved by the government, the boundary changes would come into force when a shadow authority is elected to the new unitary council in March 2022.

The new arrangements would then stay in place until 2027 when the Boundary Commission will carry out a full review.

Across North Yorkshire, there would be 89 councillors serving the county’s 600,000 population.

This would be a higher proportion of representatives than the 99 that serve Leeds’ 800,000 residents, but a lower proportion than the 126 councillors who serve County Durham’s 425,000 population.

New unitary councillor proposals leave Harrogate ‘short changed’

New proposals outlining the number of Harrogate district councillors for the new super authority leave voters “short changed”, says a county councillor.

Liberal Democrat cllr Philip Broadbank, who represents Harrogate Starbeck on North Yorkshire County Council, is to submit an alternative proposal to government so the borough is “better represented”.

Under current proposals, 89 councillors would sit on the new authority – of which 20 would be in Harrogate district.

This means that each councillor in Harrogate would represent on average 6,194 voters, compared with 5,329 across the county.

Cllr Broadbank said the plan was “not right” and that he will be submitting an alternative which will reduce the average number of people per ward.

He said:

“I’m proposing a new arrangement for Harrogate and Knaresborough. It will affect nowhere else.

“It feels like Harrogate is getting short changed. I’m just trying to get better representation for Harrogate and Knaresborough.”

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Under his proposal, the number of councillors in Harrogate and Knaresborough would increase by one but reduce the average people in a ward to below 6,000.

It would also bring the total number of members on the unitary authority to the government’s maximum of 90.

Cllr Broadbank will put his proposal to senior county councillors on the executive on Tuesday. However, he said he intends to submit it to the government as well.

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Ministers at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government will have the final say on how many new councillors are elected to the new authority.

‘Tinkering too much’ with the proposal

Meanwhile, Conservative Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive county councillor for finance, agreed that the district was “slightly underrepresented”.

However, he warned against “tinkering too much” with the proposal.

Cllr Dadd told a meeting of the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency committee that he had been lobbied by other “interested groups in the county” to also change the number of councillors.

He said:

“If we succumb to the other two or three ‘lobby groups’, we could end up with 92 or 93 councillors. Where do you stop?

“It’s a debate to be had.”

Number of Harrogate district councillors could be cut by two-thirds

The number of councillors representing the Harrogate district as a whole could be reduced by nearly two-thirds after devolution, under proposals for a new super council in North Yorkshire.

A working group led by North Yorkshire County Council’s former leader Cllr John Weighell has concluded 89 councillors should be elected to serve communities stretching from Skipton to Whitby.

Under the current two-tier system, 57 councillors are elected to serve the Harrogate district on the district and county councils. Forty are elected to Harrogate Borough Council, which is the district authority, and 17 are elected to North Yorkshire County Council. Some people serve as councillors on both councils.

Under plans for the unitary council, just 20 councillors would be elected to serve the Harrogate district on the new super council — a drop of nearly two-thirds.

The proposals would see wards such as Harrogate Stray merged with Harrogate Hookstone to create larger new wards on the unitary council.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

Some of the wards proposed by North Yorkshire County Council for the new unitary authority.

6,000 voters per councillor

The 89 councillors proposed for the whole of North Yorkshire on the super council would be 17 more than are currently elected to North Yorkshire County Council.

Each councillor would represent around 6,000 voters, which is almost double the number some currently represent.

There are concerns over councillors’ workloads under the new unitary authority because they will be responsible for matters currently covered by the county and seven district authorities.

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The number of elected members who will make decisions on the unitary authority and the composition of the wards they will represent is expected to be laid before parliament in January, ahead of polls in May to elect councillors to run the county council for a year and then sit on the unitary authority for a further four years.

Westminster to have final say

Proposed wards for the unitary council have been shaped by using parliamentary constituencies, district council wards or county council divisions.

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

“We will make a proposal, but it will be a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government decision. 

“I’m pleased to see there has been proposed a very small number of two-member wards and no three-member wards.”

Cllr Les added that government guidance setting a maximum of 90 councillors for the unitary authority reflected the county council’s local government reorganisation proposal and would enable residents to be well represented.

The authority’s Labour group leader, Cllr Eric Broadbent, said while the proposal was following government-imposed rules, every political group appeared to be looking after their own interests.

He said: 

“I hope that there is fairness all round. I’m keeping my eye on everything and if I get complaints from Labour members, I will propose changes.”

County council to set aside £34 million for devolution transition

North Yorkshire County Council is to earmark £34 million to fund a transition to a new super authority.

Secretary of State Robert Jenrick made the seismic decision last month to abolish the eight councils in North Yorkshire and set up a unitary authority for the entire county.

A consultants report written by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the county council showed the new authority will cover 618,000 people and could cost up to £38 million to set up.

As a result, council officials have now recommended setting up a transition fund. Other authorities who have been replaced by a new council have faced costs over staffing, IT replacement and refurbishment of council-owned property.

A report due before senior county councillors next Tuesday (August 31) outlines the sources of funding.

A total of £34.2 million is to be set aside by the authority, but contributions will be requested from the remaining seven districts.

The council said it will pay for the fund partly through its covid reserve, which stands at £20.5 million.

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Officials had set up the covid fund to help pay for any losses incurred by the pandemic. However, it has now received funding from government to help cover those costs.

A report due before county councillors said:

“In reality, receipts were much more buoyant and the government later announced a grant scheme to compensate for these losses on top of our internal provision. 

“The whole of this reserve is therefore available as funding towards the transitional costs.”

A total of £10 million from the council’s corporate contingency budget and £946,000 from other reserves will also be used, as well as £2.8 million budgeted from this financial quarter.

The move to a single council for the entirety of North Yorkshire is set to come into force by April 2023.

Letters published by the government showed that Mr Jenrick rejected an alternative proposal for two councils because it would have been too risky and was not “credible” geographically.

What will devolution mean for major council projects in Harrogate?

This year and next promises to be a pivotal time in Harrogate’s future with a number of exciting, controversial and long-delayed projects coming to the fore.

These include a potential £47 million redevelopment of Harrogate Convention Centre, the £10.9 million Station Gateway project and – at long last – the start of the Otley Road cycle path.

But with local government reorganisation spelling the end of Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council by April 2023, there are now questions over how these big plans will progress.

In a move to give reassurances that the projects remain on track, Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, said the authority has “no plans to sit back” until it is abolished, while Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council, added he is not expecting any delays as a result of reorganisation.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked both councils where each of their big projects are currently at and what happens when reorganisation comes around.

Here is what they said.

£10.9 million Harrogate Station Gateway

A county council spokesperson said the anticipated start date for this project is February 2022 and that more public consultations are planned for next month.

The gateway is due for completion by a government funding deadline of March 2023, although the county council has conceded these tight time-scales “remain challenging”.

The project involves a number of road layout changes in the Station Parade area to encourage more climate friendly travel.

If completed on schedule, the project will be done just one month before both councils are abolished.

£47 million redevelopment of Harrogate Convention Centre

A borough council spokesperson said this project remains a “priority” and that “work continues unabated” by reorganisation.

They added final decisions on whether the project should go ahead and how it would be funded are scheduled for early 2022.

Beyond that, the council has yet to say when construction could start and end, although it did previously say the project would be delivered in two phases.

Plans to rebuild the venue could involve three exhibition halls being demolished to make way for a new 5,000 sq m hall and a refurbished auditorium.

Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35

The Local Plan, which outlines planning development in the district until 2035, was adopted by the borough council in March last year and paved the way for thousands of new homes and businesses to be built across the district.

It was six years in the making and a borough council spokesperson said it will remain as the statutory development plan for the district under the new North Yorkshire council “until such time it is superseded by subsequent development plans”.

3,000 homes at Green Hammerton

Plans for this huge housing settlement were a key part of the Local Plan debate.

Many residents have argued the homes should be built on the former Flaxby Park golf course but the borough council is now pushing for the creation of a settlement development plan for the Green Hammerton area.

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A borough council spokesperson said the development plan will be presented to councillors for a formal decision in “due course”.

Otley Road cycle lane

Plans for the cycle lane were first announced in 2017 but have since hit a series of delays including the need for utility works and negotiations over the use of Stray land.

A county council spokesperson said utility works are currently underway and that subject to their completion, the anticipated start date for phase one of the scheme is September 6, with phase two scheduled to begin in February 2022 and full completion by June that year.

Active travel schemes

The county council is currently awaiting a decision on its £1.5 million bid to the third round of the government’s active travel fund.

This bid includes two projects in the Harrogate district: the development of sustainable travel corridors in the west of Ripon, and feasibility work for a footpath and cycleway between Knaresborough and Flaxby Green Park.

A decision is expected in autumn and if successful funds must be spent before March 2023.

In the second round, the county council successfully bid for £266,000 for cycling and walking improvements on the A59 between Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as similar plans in the Victoria Avenue area of Harrogate.

This funding must be spent during the 2021/22 financial year.

There were also plans for a one-way traffic system and junction filters on Oatlands Drive but these were scrapped in favour of a feasibility study to look into what other improvements could be made. 

This study is currently underway.

A59 realignment at Kex Gill

A county council spokesperson said: 

“The tendering process for the realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill is under way. Work could start as early as autumn, with construction taking up to 18 months.

“However, this is subject to satisfactory completion of the necessary statutory processes.”

Plans for this £60 million project include building a new carriageway around a stretch of the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton which has repeatedly been hit by landslides.

New Ripon swimming pool

This multi-million project is due for completion by the end of 2021 but has been hit by delays following the discovery of an underground void at the Ripon Leisure Centre site.

A borough council spokesperson said: 

“We are currently investigating further. Should any remedial work be required then they will be carried out.

“We remain committed to providing modern, fit-for-purpose leisure facilities for the people of Ripon and are looking forward to opening the new facilities.”

The swimming pool is being built as a replacement for the 116-year-old Ripon Spa Baths which has been put up for sale despite protests from local councillors and residents.

New Knaresborough swimming pool

The borough council is also behind these plans for a new facility to replace the town’s existing swimming pool at Fysche Field and has begun drawing up designs.

A borough council spokesperson said: 

“Alliance Leisure Services, our appointed development partner for the leisure investment project, are currently exploring options and carrying out design feasibility work for the future leisure centre in Knaresborough.

“A formal decision will be presented to council in due course.”

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In a full statement commenting on all projects, Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, said: 

“We are working with our partners on numerous major transport projects to benefit communities around the county. Our commitment to completing these remains as strong as ever, as does meeting the delivery deadlines that are a condition of some funding awards.

“We do not anticipate any delays to highways and transport projects as a result of local government reorganisation.

“We are committed to continuing each of these projects as planned with our partners. From April 2023, the new council for North Yorkshire will assume responsibility for ongoing projects.

“In the meantime, the county council will continue to pursue funding opportunities as these arise as appropriate for the benefit of our communities, as residents, businesses and visitors would expect us to do.”

Meanwhile, Mr Sampson added: 

“Harrogate Borough Council will continue to exist until 2023 and we have no plans to sit back until this time. We have a number of exciting and ambitious projects that have either started or are due to start in the coming months.

“We are also committed to supporting our economy post covid and will be looking at all projects, before the new unitary authority comes into operation, to explore what investment projects should or could be delivered.”

Devolution will ‘offer residents everywhere a fairer future’, says county council leader

The leader of North Yorkshire County Council has said the forthcoming major shake-up of local government in the county brings the chance to “improve lives and offer residents everywhere a fairer future”.

Writing in an open letter after the government announced it would grant control of all council services to a new unitary authority covering the whole of the county in 2023, Cllr Carl Les said:

“In North Yorkshire we are famous for our straight talking so I want to be clear on what an opportunity we have before us.

“Government has given the green light for a new single council, which will deliver all local services to every household in the county from spring 2023. Not in itself perhaps the most exciting line on earth – but the benefits this approach will bring are real and must not be underestimated.”

Under the reorganisation plans, North Yorkshire’s county and district councils – including Harrogate – are to be scrapped and replaced by the new unitary authority.

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City of York Council will remain separate but all others will be fused together under the new structure covering a population of 618,000.

Cllr Les added:

“Put simply, that’s eight councils, with a wealth of dedicated and skilled staff between them, coming together to form one focused workforce, joining up all those services that will make life easier for everyone.

“Aligning things like planning, broadband, highways and housing to build stronger communities. Joining up job opportunities with education and skills. Support for families with health, leisure and cultural offers.

“The chance to enrich and improve the lives of very many people here and offer residents everywhere a fairer future. It will also save tens of millions that can be ploughed back into strengthening public services and empowering communities to drive and deliver on what matters most to them.”

The single council structure was proposed by North Yorkshire County Council, while the district councils except Hambleton, which rejected all options on the table, submitted a bid for two authorities split on a east/west basis.

Speaking after the government last month announced its backing of the county council proposal, Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said the decision “flew in the face of the government’s own criteria”.

He said: 

“My argument has always been that any unitary for our area needs to be of the right size and structure to deliver efficient and responsive services to residents.

“The county council deliver some services exceptionally – children’s services and adult social care to name two. In other areas they let our borough down.

“My job now as the leader of Harrogate Borough Council is to explore how the new unitary authority, based on the county structure, can improve these shortcomings.”

The aim of reorganisation is to save money and unlock the door to a devolution deal which could see millions of pounds and decision-making powers handed down from government to North Yorkshire under the control of a new mayor.

Cllr Les added this presented an opportunity for the county to fulfil its role as a “rural powerhouse” as he also urged leaders and residents to work together towards this aim.

He said: 

“Whatever your view on the timing of, detail or context for big changes to how services are future proofed here, please come together as one to help deliver the very best for every single person in the county.

“Team North Yorkshire is resilient, caring and focused. Let’s show the nation what we can do.”

County council leader announces executive reshuffle nine months before elections

The leader of North Yorkshire County Council has announced a reshuffle of his executive team just nine months before elections are due to be held.

Cllr Carl Les said, while the majority of the positions on the authority’s executive would remain the same, he wanted to give more of his 54-member Conservative group “the chance to serve” ahead of the first North Yorkshire Council elections on May 5.

The changes, which are set to be considered by the executive on August 24, will see former Scarborough Borough Council leader, Cllr Derek Bastiman, brought onto the council’s leadership group of 10 members for the first time as the open to business portfolio holder.

The current open to business executive member, Cllr Andrew Lee, who represents Cawood in Selby district, is scheduled to take over the public health brief, which Northallerton Cllr Caroline Dickinson has held for several years.

Over the past 18 months Cllr Dickinson has faced scrutiny with one of the heaviest workloads of any of the authority’s members, having responsibility for the county’s public health response to the covid pandemic.

Cllr Les said the decision to replace her on the executive did not reflect her contribution or efforts, but the fact that the administration had been given a “bonus year” due to local government reorganisation.

He said: 

“This is no indication of Cllr Dickinson’s performance whatsoever. She has done very well. If you leave everybody in the same positions all the time the people who haven’t got those positions don’t have an opportunity to serve.

“It is a truism that if you don’t make changes other people don’t get a chance to serve. There’s got to be some change built into the system. I wanted to make some changes over a year ago, but covid got in the way and I didn’t think it was appropriate at that time to make some changes. Now we have got  bonus year.”

The reshuffle comes as the authority agreed to set up a working group to develop a proposal for government over the number of elected members and the areas they should represent on the new council.

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While there are calls to double the amount of councillors currently serving on the county council due to the additional responsibilities, it is understood many believe having 144 councillors would be unworkable.

Instead, some cross-party support has been expressed for limiting the new authority to 90 elected members, just 18 more than serve on the county council.

Cllr Les said responsibility for climate change action was being officially added to Pickering Cllr Greg White’s customer engagement portfolio as he was already undertaking the majority of the work in that area.

With 54 Conservative members, opposition councillors said Cllr Les faced a difficult task keeping all of his group happy and while balancing representation on the executive across the county’s six districts. In addition, they highlighted the changes meant just one executive member was a woman.

Opposition councillors also questioned whether the reshuffle was designed to prepare the way for North Yorkshire Council, but Cllr Les dismissed suggestions the changes signified any shift in direction for the council.

The reshuffle comes as the authority agreed to set up a working group to develop a proposal for government over the number of elected members and the areas they should represent on the new council.

While there are calls to double the amount of councillors currently serving on the county council due to the additional responsibilities, it is understood many believe having 144 councillors would be unworkable.

Instead, some cross-party support has been expressed for limiting the new authority to 90 elected members, just 18 more than serve on the county council.

Stray Views: Starbeck is worse than Bradford and Birmingham

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. See below for details on how to contribute.

Harrogate is in trouble and needs to wake up

I can only say what I see. I am originally from Birmingham and still have my business there. We lived in Cottingley, near Bradford for 11 years before moving to Starbeck in 2018 to be near our daughter and grandkids.

Since living here, I don’t see any difference between Harrogate, Bradford or Birmingham. In fact, Starbeck is a lot worse. It’s certainly the worst place we have lived in for over 40 years and most of that time was around Birmingham, including Erdington, Longbridge and Bournville — where my business is.

The drug problem here is horrific (like everywhere), and almost everywhere I can smell pot smoking. Harrogate is overcrowded, and the roads into the town are ridiculously busy, as bad as the big cities, mainly due to the poor planning of the town over the decades.

I lived in Redditch in 1989-1990 and Harrogate compares to that time, but probably worse. Prospect Road area is now renowned for drugs, antisocial behaviour, supermarket trolleys everywhere daily, and broken glass and litter strewn everywhere, and if it is cleared up it’s back the same within days.

Harrogate town centre is just like any other which is struggling, and no one is doing anything about it other than seemingly making things worse with wrong decision after wrong decision. Don’t get me wrong, it is still nice, but the spiral is seemingly downwards and it needs radical common sense thinking to turn the town around.

Is Harrogate in decline? It seems it’s been in decline for a long time, and the town needs to wake up because as an outsider if this is my experience of it then the town is already in trouble.

Martin Morris, Starbeck

Harrogate is clean, tidy and beautiful

I read some of the comments about “is Harrogate in decline”? I recently moved to Harrogate after spending over 20 years living and working in Northampton. To me Harrogate is a lovely place to live.

It is clean, tidy, mostly well organised and has beautiful buildings and parklands. The hospitality industry is excellent. I am so happy I moved here and the locals are genuinely so friendly.

A note of caution: I went back recently to Northampton for a few days. They are one of the towns / cities trialling e-scooter hire schemes. They should be avoided at all costs until proper well informed regulations are in place and enforced. Scooter riders are a law unto themselves, riding on pavements with no helmets and multiple riders. They are then just abandoned on pavements until they’re next hired, causing blockages and generally look a mess and tacky.

I hope Harrogate resists such schemes until proper regulations are in place and enforced. You have a lovely town and i am very happy to be part of it now.

Peter Hannon, Harrogate

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Devolution will lead to more waste and incompetence

Any councillors expressing regret over the government’s decision to choose to have a super-council for North Yorkshire should focus instead on their own faults for backing the present arrangements, which have never worked very well anyway.

Now we have a proposed local authority, which will be even more unaccountable to the public and which will only consult on its own terms.

Experience shows that there are no savings with large unitary bodies, only more waste and incompetence in handling larger revenues. You only have to listen to the regular facts uncovered by the TaxPayers’ Alliance and similar to see what we are in for now.

Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has overruled many public concerns and is going the wrong way here too. It’s up to councillors and MPs to make him realise there are no advantages to Joe Public — only poor control of costs

John Holder, Harrogate

 

What will devolution mean for Harrogate and North Yorkshire council staff?

The abolition of North Yorkshire’s two-tier councils will have a major impact on taxpayers who rely on key services.

It will also have implications for councillors who in May 2022 will have to stand for election to a new unitary authority serving the entire county.

But above all, it will be the around 10,000 council staff across North Yorkshire who will be the most affected by the changes.

When the new authority launches in April 2023 following the abolition of North Yorkshire County Council and the district and borough councils in Harrogate, Scarborough, Selby, Craven, Ryedale, Hambleton and Richmondshire, most staff will be transferred across but some duplicated roles will inevitably be at risk of redundancy.

It is not yet known how many jobs will be affected – and there are also the questions of whether staff will be relocated and what happens to office buildings including Harrogate’s new civic centre headquarters.

North Yorkshire County Council – which is behind the single council plans and will act as the ‘continuing authority’ when reorganisation happens – has said those at risk of redundancy will be mostly senior staff and that the transferring of workers will be a “simple” process.

However, some union officials are not fully convinced.

Unions: concern or optimism?

David Houlgate, branch secretary at Unison Harrogate, which supported rival plans for two new councils split on a east/west basis, said: 

“Whilst we saw merits in both proposals there was a concern that district and borough council roles were at greater risk with the North Yorkshire County Council proposal. It would be safe to say that concern remains.

“Staff are also concerned about possibly having to relocate though at this time we have no idea what is likely to happen.”

On the other hand, Wendy Nichols, secretary of the North Yorkshire branch of Unison, which supported the single council plans, said reorganisation should be welcomed by all staff who she hopes will “work together to deliver a stronger future for everyone’s benefit.”

She said: 

“Many thousands of staff will now simply transfer to the new council as part of the process of setting it up.

“Our priority is to make sure that staff experience the least possible disruption so they can get on with their jobs and continue to deliver high quality and reliable public services.”

The aim of reorganisation is to unlock the door to a devolution deal with the government which could see millions of pounds and decision-making powers handed down from Whitehall to North Yorkshire.

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The county could also get a mayor similar to those seen in South Yorkshire, the Tees Valley and Greater Manchester.

But a key part of the plans is saving money and a large part of this will come from a reduction in staff.

For example, there are currently eight council chief executives across North Yorkshire earning around £100,000 a year.

The new council will just have one – and the same will most likely be said for other top roles including directors.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire County Council explained: 

“With the exception of a handful of the most senior managers, all staff will simply carry on doing what they are currently doing.

“After April 2023 when the new authority is in place some services may want to review their structures and arrangements especially if there is duplication of work and roles or more efficient new ways of delivering services which have been brought together.

“The expectation is that whilst over time for some services there will be changes to staffing structures and need for reductions in posts this will be able to be managed by removing vacancies.

“For a small number of the most senior managers there will be a need to reduce posts at an early stage when eight senior management teams become a single new management team.”

The coming months and as more details emerge about the new authority will undoubtedly be a nervy time for some staff.

Until it starts to take shape, there will be many unanswered questions about exactly whose jobs are at risk and what the new staffing structure will look like.

But officials have insisted staff will play a key part in the process and that they hope workers won’t quit local government due to the uncertainties ahead.

The county council spokesperson added: 

“There is a wealth of talent across district, borough and county council staff and it is very much hoped that everyone will see this as a huge opportunity to build a new, ambitious and exemplar council for everyone in North Yorkshire.”