A third consultation has been opened on plans to create a Harrogate town council.

The town council would be formed for administrative purposes from April 1, 2025, and the first elections would be on May 1, 2025.

North Yorkshire Council has said residents could expect to pay between £40 and £60 on top of their council tax each year to pay for the new council.

Harrogate and Scarborough are the only part of North Yorkshire which do not have a parish or town council.

Harrogate was due to get its own town council this year but it was delayed for a year after councillors asked to redraw the ward boundaries.

Officers had recommended that each of the proposed 10 wards in Harrogate, which were based on current North Yorkshire Council divisions, be represented by two councillors per ward on the town council with the exception of Saltergate, which would have one councillor.

But Conservative councillors raised concerns, including Cllr John Mann, who represents Oatlands and Pannal. He said accountability to residents would be better served by single councillor wards. 

He told a council meeting at the time:

“These arrangements will be with us for many decades to come and we need to get it right.”

Cllr Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat councillor subsequently told the Stray Ferret the concern over ward arrangements was a “red herring” and later urged the council to speed up the process.

Cllr David Chance, the council’s executive member for corporate services, said in a statement yesterday:

“The public consultation already carried out has shown that there is widespread support for town councils to be created for both Harrogate and Scarborough.

“We now want to get the wards right so are asking for views on that before the end of this month. Then we can take a final decision to introduce the town councils which will provide more democratically-elected voices for both areas which is vital as we deliver key services.”

You can take part in the consultation here.

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A Liberal Democrats councillor has called for elections to be held for a future Harrogate town council in May 2024 rather than 2025.

In July, North Yorkshire Council agreed to pause work on the new council to undertake a third public consultation about how it will be formed.

Harrogate and Scarborough are the only two areas in the county without a parish council and the council is creating them at the same time.

But the Lib Dems have raised concerns that another consultation will mean a longer wait for Harrogate residents to be represented on a town council.

Harrogate Town Council would have far fewer powers than North Yorkshire Council or the former Harrogate Borough Council but it could run some local services.

Cllr Philip Broadbank

Cllr Broadbank, who represents Fairfax and Starbeck, raised the subject at a meeting in Northallerton last week.

He asked if Harrogate could be treated separately from Scarborough and if the process could be speeded up so elections can take place in six months’ time.

Cllr Broadbank said:

“Whilst new warding proposals for Scarborough will of course be new and take longer to formulate, boundaries for Harrogate town already exist.

“A consultation on whether Harrogate has single member or two member wards can be done quickly and allow elections next year rather than 2025 as currently envisaged.”

However, his proposal was knocked by Conservative executive member for corporate services David Chance, who said a decision had already been taken by councillors in July.

Cllr Chance said:

“The proposals for Harrogate and Scarborough have been brought forward together and delivered in tandem to deliver parity in our approach.”

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Last month, the council revealed the winners and losers of the 12 ‘double-devolution’ bids from parishes that would like to take control of assets in their areas.

These included Ripon City Council, which wants to take over the running of assets including the town hall and market square.

Knaresborough Town Council has been invited to develop a business case to run the town’s weekly market.

Harrogate was excluded from the process because it doesn’t have a parish council. If a Harrogate Town Council were created, it could bid to run services in the town such as looking after its parks or the Stray, operating car parks or managing the Royal Hall.

It has previously been suggested by North Yorkshire Council that residents would pay between £40 and £60 on top of their council tax each year to pay for the new council.

New proposals to set-up a Harrogate Town Council are now expected next year, according to North Yorkshire Council.

Harrogate and Scarborough were expected to get their own town councils in May 2024 but the process was delayed after councillors on North Yorkshire Council, which is charged with setting up the local authorities, asked to redraw its ward boundaries.

Residents had previously backed the creation of two councillor wards arranged by the current 10 North Yorkshire Council divisions. Saltergate would have had just one councillor.

However, Conservative councillors on North Yorkshire Council said they didn’t want to proceed with this model and instead wanted to see single councillor wards based around the 19 former Harrogate Borough Council boundaries.

This means there will have to be a third public consultation so the public can have their say on the new wards.

The consultations are a legal necessity but it will take the combined cost of holding them to more than £140,000.

Barry Khan, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant chief executive legal and democratic services, said: 

“Officers are continuing to work on possible warding patterns for both Harrogate and Scarborough town councils and a report setting out options will be taken to the standards and governance committee next year.”

This month, the council revealed the winners and losers of the 12 ‘double-devolution’ bids from parishes that would like to take control of assets in their areas.

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Harrogate Town Council, if it’s created, could apply to run services in the town such as looking after its parks or the Stray, operating car parks or managing the Royal Hall.

The council has said that households would initially be asked to pay between £40 and £60 on top of their council tax to allow the town council to have an annual budget in the range of £1m to £1.6m.

If residents approve the proposals laid out in the next consultation, the council would likely form in April 2025 with elections taking place in May, although this has not been confirmed yet.

Harrogate residents will soon again be asked for their views on creating a Harrogate Town Council.

They’d be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja-vu as it will be third time documents have been dropped in letterboxes with information and questions about how it should be formed.

For some, creating another layer of local democracy so soon after the demise of Harrogate Borough Council is an unpalatable thought.

But Harrogate, along with Scarborough, are the only two areas in the county without a town or parish council and proponents say the council will give the town a voice and help hold North Yorkshire Council to account.

How much will it cost?

Perhaps the most pertinent question for residents during a cost-of-living crisis is how much the new council will cost them.

If it’s created then an annual sum, called a precept, will be added to every council tax bill to help pay for services.

The council has said that households would initially be asked to pay between £40 and £60 to allow for an annual budget in the range of £1m to £1.6m.

The areas in Harrogate which would fall under the new town council.

The budget would be spent on accommodation, employment costs, office and IT equipment, insurance, professional fees, the mayor and delivering services.

The precept would be lower than Ripon City Council, which charges £70.77 for band D properties, but higher than Knaresborough Town Council, which charges £25.27.

However, another cost that has alarmed councillors is the combined cost of the three public consultations. It was revealed at a recent meeting that the bill for these is likely to come to £140,000.

What powers will it have?

The council would be a statutory consultee on planning applications in Harrogate, which would give it a voice if it felt strongly about a particular application.

But it would not have power to make decisions as applications would still in the hands of North Yorkshire Council.

When the new unitary council was formed, it pledged to hand back some powers to parish or town councils through a project it has called double-devolution.

It could mean Harrogate Town Council is much more powerful than it would have been without this pledge.

It could bid to run services in the town such as looking after its parks or the Stray, operating car parks or managing the Royal Hall.

But this will only be decided once the council has formed and councillors have been elected.

How many councillors will there be?

There are set to be 19 councillors on the council and they will represent wards based around the former Harrogate Borough Council boundaries.

These are not used by North Yorkshire Council, which decided to use larger divisions.

Read more:

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Councillors considered having two councillors per ward after it was backed in the previous consultation but the Conservatives said accountability to residents would be better served with single councillor wards.

Councillors who already sit on North Yorkshire Council are able to stand in town council elections.

In most parish councils, councillors sit as independent members, however, they can also stand for political parties.

When will elections take place?

If residents approve the proposals laid out in the next consultation, the council would likely form in April 2025 with elections taking place in May, although this has not been confirmed yet.

This is a year later than originally planned but it’s been put back in order for the third consultation to take place.

A row over the creation of Harrogate Town Council has continued with a Liberal Democrat councillor claiming the Conservatives are attempting to delay the process because they fear they’d lose the election.

This month North Yorkshire Council agreed to hold a third public consultation on the creation of a Harrogate Town Council, which is now likely to form in 2025, a year later originally than planned.

Despite residents backing plans for two councillors to represent single wards in the previous consultation, Conservative councillors want single councillor wards based around the 19 former Harrogate Borough Council boundaries.

A consultation on the new proposals is expected to begin this year.

The move has frustrated opposition parties including the Liberal Democrats, which would like to see the currently unparished area of Harrogate represented by a town council as soon as possible.

Liberal Democrat councillor for High Harrogate and Kingsley, Chris Aldred, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he believes the Conservatives “do not like town councils” and also want to delay the process in order to avoid the electorate at the ballot box. 

He said:

“The truth is that they feel the further away they can push any possible election, the better for them. They know what the public think of them, nationally and locally, and they are running very, very scared.”

One of the most vocal opponents of the two councillors per ward proposals has been Conservative councillor for Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, Michael Harrison, who also sits on the council’s decision-making executive.

This year, Cllr Harrison was unanimously chosen by Harrogate councillors as its first charter mayor. However, Cllr Aldred suggested the Lib Dems, which is the largest party in Harrogate, now regret backing him due to his stance on the town council. 

He added: 

“We installed Cllr Harrison as our charter mayor for this year, partly in the hope it would educate him in the important role played by the mayoralty in our town, which can’t legally be continued or expanded upon, without a fully functional town council.

“We had the numbers to put in one of our own, but we felt this issue was actually so important, we were prepared to forgo this civic honour and elect a Tory. So we are doubly disappointed that he still continues in his attempts to usurp the creation of a democratically elected town council.”

Cllr Michael Harrison

In response, Cllr Harrison told the LDRS that local politics and the mayoralty are “strictly separate.” He said:

“I am honoured to be the mayor of Harrogate and was very grateful that my fellow councillors elected me to represent them. It has been a pleasure to carry out various civic duties over the last five months, and I will continue to do so for the rest of the civic year.

“It is no secret that I remain to be convinced of the need for a town council but recognise that colleagues continue to make the case, and I will be happy to support a decision at the right time.

“I make no apology for trying to ensure that if we are to create a new town council, that it is structured in the best way possible, we understand what it might achieve and what strategic objectives it will deliver in return for the precept that the residents of the town will have no choice to pay.”

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The Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council Cllr Carl Les described  Cllr Aldred’s claim that the Tories are against town councils as “nonsense”.

Cllr Les told the LDRS: 

“Most of my colleagues in the Conservative group have served on parish councils themselves and we all attend parish councils in our divisions. If we didn’t value their role, we wouldn’t have proposed offering the two communities in North Yorkshire which aren’t parished the opportunity to create two new parish councils.

“However it is important to get this right, as these bodies will be existence for many years to come, so it’s right to take time at the start. Cllr Aldred raised some points about warding which we are now addressing, so I don’t know why he is now criticising us. We have to do this with communities, not to them, so we need some further consultation.”

The combined cost of three public consultations about the creation of Harrogate Town Council is likely to be £140,000, a senior Conservative councillor has said.

This week at a full meeting of North Yorkshire Council, councillors debated proposals to create a town council for Harrogate.

The council would be similar to parish councils in Knaresborough and Ripon but as yet, it has not been confirmed what services it might deliver.

In a second public consultation held earlier this year, residents backed the creation of two councillor wards arranged by the current 10 North Yorkshire Council divisions. Saltergate would have had one councillor.

However, Conservative councillors said they didn’t want to proceed with this model and instead wanted to see single councillor wards based around the 19 former Harrogate Borough Council boundaries.

Councillors ultimately voted by 49 to 32 to back these plans with another public consultation now legally required. It means the new council is not likely to be formed before 2025 — a year later than originally planned.

During the debate, councillors raised concerns about the cost of holding another consultation.

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Later in the meeting, Liberal Democrat councillor for High Harrogate and Kingsley, Chris Aldred, asked the Conservative executive member for corporate services, David Chance, how much the previous two consultations had cost and how much it would cost to “yet again” go out to the public.

Cllr Chance said that £45,270 was spent on the first consultation and £46,486 on the second with the money spent on printing, postage costs and digital marketing.

He said if the council decides to proceed with a third consultation that would be similar in form the the previous two, it would cost another £48,000.

Although he added that “there are other ways of carrying out this consultation at a much lower cost” but did not give any specifics.

People will be asked for their views for a third time about the creation of a Harrogate town council, councillors agreed yesterday.

It means the new council is now likely to form in 2025, a year later than originally planned.

Councillors debated proposals yesterday at a full meeting of North Yorkshire Council in Northallerton.

Officers had recommended that each of the proposed 10 wards in Harrogate, which are based on current North Yorkshire Council divisions, be represented by two councillors per ward on the town council with the exception of Saltergate, which would have one councillor.

This followed a public consultation that overwhelmingly backed this arrangement.

However, Conservative councillors have raised concerns about two councillors representing one ward and instead backed a proposal to use single councillor wards based around the 19 former Harrogate Borough Council boundaries.

Conservative councillor for Oatlands and Pannal, John Mann said accountability to residents would be better served by single councillor wards. 

He said:

“These arrangements will be with us for many decades to come and we need to get it right.”

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Conservative councillor for Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, Michael Harrison, said he had not detected any appetite in Harrogate for the creation of a town council, particularly as it was still not clear how much the council would cost or what it would do.

It has previously been suggested by the council that residents would pay between £40 and £60 on top of their council tax each year to cover as yet undetermined services.

Cllr Harrison said:

“I don’t understand what the rush is. It’s got to be absolutely right. Let’s pause and think about this a bit longer, although I am mindful of continual consultation and cost.”

At the meeting, several Liberal Democrat councillors said they wanted to stick with the original proposals and suggested ignoring the wishes of the previous public consultation would risk undermining democracy.

The areas in Harrogate which would fall under the new town council.

Cllr Monika Slate, Liberal Democrat councillor for Bilton Grange and New Park, said:

“We’ve spent time and money consulting the public and they have spoken overwhelmingly to support the proposals put forward.

“We can’t keep asking the public questions and ignoring them when they give us an answer.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone, Pat Marsh said:

“We asked, they’ve spoken, we now need to get on and deliver on what they responded to. We need to get on with making sure we get a Harrogate council in place ASAP, otherwise we’re letting people down.”

Councillors voted by 49 to 32 with three abstentions to consult the public on the town council being formed with single councillor wards based around the old borough council ward boundaries.

North Yorkshire Council will publish details of the next consultation at a later date.