North Yorkshire Council Archives - Page 159 of 171

North Yorkshire Council plans council tax hike

North Yorkshire residents look set to have to find more than £100 extra from April to pay an average council tax bill, despite their newly-launched local authority embarking on a rigorous cost-cutting programme.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive will next Tuesday consider charging average band D households £83.64 more just for services that have traditionally been provided by the district, borough and county councils.

Residents are also facing having to pay significantly higher council tax bills due to expected rises in precepts from North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and parish councils, some of which are considering levying large-scale increases to cover their costs.

As the proposed police and fire precepts will not be announced until later this month it remains unclear what total council tax rise residents will face, but under the proposal for the unitary North Yorkshire Council element of council tax bills, band D residents would have to pay £1,759.96.

Residents of areas such as Hambleton will face yet steeper increases, paying about £45 extra on what they paid last year to bring their bills into line with those charged elsewhere in the county.

A report to the executive states even with a 4.99% increase in its charge, the new council will need to use £30m of reserves to balance its budget in 2023/24 alone alongside a cost-cutting programme to save up to £68m annually.

Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s finance executive member, said he was acutely aware of financial pressures households are facing and that those in the greatest financial need would be given up to 100 per cent reductions on council tax bills.

The authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said:

“We are facing the greatest ever financial challenges in North Yorkshire, which means we have a huge task in ensuring that services can be delivered effectively and efficiently for the public.

“However, without the opportunities presented with the launch of the new council, the situation would be a great deal worse, and it is vital that we take full advantage of these opportunities.

“We have the chance to make millions of pounds in savings by reorganising the way services are delivered, meaning that we get the most out of every pound of taxpayers’ money in North Yorkshire.”

‘Forced on local councils’

Opposition groups on the authority said although the 4.99% increase would be very difficult for many households to cover, with inflation at 11% it meant a six per cent real terms reduction to pay for council services.

Cllr Andy Brown, Green Party leader, said:

“This is being forced on local councils by national government decisions and it leaves North Yorkshire Council massively short of what it needs to provide a reasonable level of service.”

Cllr Stuart Parsons, leader of the Independents group, said as the government had failed to carry out its promised reforms of social care charging councils were being forced to put the charge onto council tax bills.

He said:

“It shows yet again the Conservatives are a high tax party.

“Since 2010 onwards with austerity the government has savaged local authorities and then expected them to massively increase local taxation to cover their inadequacies.”

New taxi fares for North Yorkshire revealed

All hackney carriage vehicles in North Yorkshire look set to be allowed to charge a maximum of £7.40 for a standard two-mile journey.

Currently Harrogate Borough Council and the other six district councils in the county set their own fares for hackney carriages.

But the new North Yorkshire Council, which will become the sole licensing authority on April 1, will align the maximum fares when senior councillors meet next week. A report to the councillors is here.

The proposed new county-wide fare structure is based on what customers currently pay in both Harrogate and Selby districts.

Out of 350 local authorities Harrogate and Selby currently stand at number 76 in the national hackney carriage fare table — meaning the taxis will be more expensive than in almost 80% of other places.

Under the proposed tariff, a two-mile journey within North Yorkshire would cost a maximum of £7.40 between 6am and midnight. The price will go up after midnight and at Christmas and new year.

A maximum soiling charge of £100 – should a vehicle need to be cleaned – has also been set to align with the current charges in Richmondshire, Craven and Ryedale. The rate in the Harrogate district is currently £80.

Cllr Derek Bastiman

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for open to business, Cllr Derek Bastiman, said:

“We need to ensure all businesses, residents and visitors across North Yorkshire are subject to the same maximum fare, regardless of where they live, work or visit.

“The setting of taxi fares is a statutory duty for the licensing authority and our aim is to strike a balance between setting a fare that is acceptable to the customer and to the taxi driver, and not create confusion by varied fares in the licensed area.

“The proposed fares are the maximum hackney carriage drivers can charge. They can, of course, charge a lower fare, should they wish to do so.”

If approved by North Yorkshire County Council’s executive on Tuesday next week, the proposed fares will be subject to a statutory 14-day consultation period.

Once a tariff of fares has been set, a driver cannot charge more to passengers than the charge shown on the meter apart from in certain exceptional circumstance, such as where a journey ends outside of the council area and a fee has been agreed in advance.

Private hire vehicles set their own fares and cannot be regulated by the licensing authority, so customers should agree the fare before the journey commences.

North Yorkshire councillors set for 50% pay rise from April

Councillors on the new North Yorkshire Council will have a 50% pay rise in April if proposals are approved next week.

The suggested increase has been put forward to “reflect their significantly increased workload” as the new unitary authority takes over from North Yorkshire County Council.

Councillors sitting on NYCC currently receive £10,316 per year as a basic allowance. If proposals are approved, this would increase to £15,500 for the next financial year.

Allowances for special responsibilities – those with portfolios for transport, health and other areas – would also increase by at least 4% under the plans.

The chair of the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP), John Thompson, said:

“Councillors volunteer for their roles. They are not employees and are not paid at a commercial rate for their time.

“However, the allowances should not be set at a level which acts as a disincentive to conscientious performance of duties, or which does not reflect the considerable time commitment required for the role.”

The proposed new allowances will be considered by NYCC’s executive next Tuesday, before being put to the full council for a final decision in February.

While Mr Thompson said he accepted that “in absolute terms this may be seen as a large increase”, the number of councillors was reducing from 319 to 90, so there would be savings to the taxpayer.

The cost of basic and special responsibility allowances at present is £2,553,319. Under the proposals it would fall to £1,845,686 – a saving of just over £700,000.

Some NYCC councillors also sit on Harrogate Borough Council, meaning they can claim allowances from both authorities. From April, when the new unitary authority takes over, they will only sit on one council and be able to claim once.

Mr Thompson said the IRP had faced a difficult task in coming to its recommendation.

He added:

“Setting a fair and proportionate basic allowance and special responsibility allowance that reflects the workload of councillors in the new authority has been a complex task.

“The allowances paid in similar local authorities have been reviewed, inflation and cost of living pressures taken into account, information from councillors about their current and future workload considered, along with details of how the new council will work and the services that it will commission and provide.

“When considering the appropriate level for the allowances, it is also important to take into account the need to continue to attract the required calibre of candidate from a diverse range of backgrounds, to stand and serve as a councillor.”

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

“I thank the panel for its work and for looking at this issue with independent eyes. It is important that the level at which allowances are set is not a barrier that would prevent anyone from standing for a council position, regardless of such things as age, personal circumstances and whether they are in work.

“It will be a matter for each councillor to decide, at the full council meeting in February, whether to take all, some or none of the proposed allowances.”

Council freezes Ripon parish precept for third year running

Ripon’s parish precept, which is charged to council tax payers in the city, is being frozen at its current level for the third year in succession.

It means Ripon residents living in a Band D property will pay a parish precept of £70.77 for the financial year 2023/24. People in Bands A to C properties will pay less and those in Bands E to H will pay more.

Final council tax bills for the year ahead are calculated by adding the parish precept to the amounts also charged by the new North Yorkshire Council and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. The latter two have yet to finalise their amounts.

Ripon City Council unanimously approved its draft budget for 2023-2024 at its January full meeting after independent council leader Andrew Williams told members:

“Because of the increased number of new houses built in Ripon, there are more properties over which the precept will be charged and we are able to raise a levy of £420,000 at no extra cost to the charge payer.

“This is an increase from the £411,000 raised in the last financial year and will enable us to fund, among other things, the programme of public and civic events throughout the year, further improvements to the city’s Christmas lights infrastructure and refurbishment of Hugh Ripley Hall to increase its earnings potential.”

In the new financial year that comes into effect from April, monies will also be earmarked from reserves to pay for any professional advice required arising from double devolution and negotiations on matters including the transfer of assets such as Ripon Town Hall, Hugh Ripley Hall and Market Square, to the city council

Cllr Williams said:

“These are very difficult times with the cost of living crisis putting families under greater financial pressure through increased food, fuel, mortgage, rent and other costs.

“Faced with these circumstances we thought it only right and proper to freeze the precept charge for the coming financial year.”

Unison raises dispute with Harrogate council after five staff told they won’t transfer to new council

A trade union has opened a dispute with Harrogate Borough Council after five staff at the local authority were told they will not transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council after all.

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished on April 1 and it was thought all staff except chief executive Wallace Sampson would transfer to the successor authority under TUPE terms.

But Unison said it was “dismayed” to discover five audit services staff had recently discovered they would transfer to Veritau, a shared service group owned by local authorities in Yorkshire and north-east England.

Unison Harrogate branch secretary Dave Houlgate said the staff would switch to Veritau on “detrimental” terms to those who will transfer to North Yorkshire Council.

Mr Houlgate said:

“Staff and Unison have engaged with the TUPE process for well over a year now and our expectation and the expectation of all staff is that they will transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council on April 1 on their existing terms and conditions but with the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions at the new council, which Unison has negotiated.

“It would seem, however, that the current county council has decided at this very late stage it does not want Harrogate Borough Council staff who work in the area associated with audit services to transfer to the new council but instead has decided that they should transfer to a separate company, Veritau. Unison opposes this move.”

Our #Harrogate branch has lodged a formal dispute with Harrogate Borough Council after it emerges not all staff will be offered the opportunity to transfer to the new #NorthYorkshire council when the councils come together on 1 April#LocalGov @unisonyh https://t.co/gQt7z5SHxJ

— North Yorkshire UNISON (@NYUnison) January 16, 2023

Mr Houlgate said the option of staff not being offered the chance to TUPE to North Yorkshire Council “has never been on the agenda, even though we had raised it as a concern early in the process” and the union was “dismayed by this development”.

He said although North Yorkshire County Council and Veritau wanted staff to transfer directly to Veritau, it was ultimately Harrogate Borough Council’s decision.

“We object in the strongest terms to this late change of plan which shows total disregard for the staff involved, denies them the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions negotiated and agreed by Unison and ignores established procedures and protocols that are in place.

“Staff in audit services at Harrogate should, as they expect to do, transfer to the new authority and then if there is a need to review how audit services are delivered for the new council then the proper processes should be followed after the transfer.

“Our expectation was that Harrogate Borough Council would stand by its staff and should resist this late change rather than give it the ‘green light’. Our dispute is intended to ensure this happens.”

The Stray Ferret has approached Harrogate Borough Council for comment.

Harrogate Borough Council prevented from any major new spending schemes

North Yorkshire’s seven district and borough councils have been told any new major spending schemes they approve will not be ratified before they are abolished.

North Yorkshire County Council has written to the second tier councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, stating there is insufficient time before the new unitary North Yorkshire Council is launched on April 1 for it to consider the raft of large-scale schemes being submitted.

The decision is likely to come as a blow to many of the district authorities, which had been told they would continue to have a significant jurisdiction until Vesting Day, operating and making significant decisions for their residents, businesses and visitors.

Under the structural change order for local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire, which was laid down by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last May, the district and borough councils were given a legal requirement to request approval for some financial decisions.

It was underlined the district councils would be given “general consent” to approve smaller scale schemes, but the sanctions for not complying with the consent regime would be “severe”.

District and borough council schemes in recent months have seen elected members discussing a range of proposals to boost housing, leisure facilities, infrastructure and financial support for communities, many of which involve using their reserves ahead of the councils being scrapped.

For example, last week Richmondshire District Council approved a move to spend up to £240,000 on further repairs to Richmond swimming pool, a scheme which will need the county council’s consent.

Numerous district councillors have spoken openly in meetings about their determination to spend their council’s coffers in the area in which they were raised, rather than allowing North Yorkshire Council to inherit and distribute them across the expansive county as it sees fit.

However, the county council’s leadership says the district council’s reserves could be needed to cover the costs of providing essential services for vulnerable people, such as social care.

The letter to the districts states the county council had expected giving general consent for smaller schemes would reduce the bureaucratic burden on it, but instead the district authorities had continued to submit a large and unmanageable number of spending requests for approval on a weekly basis.

It states:

“We are now less than three months from Vesting Day for the new council, so the majority of schemes that were requested, and were not foreseen as part of the general consent, are likely to be capable of being delayed until post Vesting Day, when the new North Yorkshire Council can consider the matter.

“In addition, there is a duty on all councils to prepare for the new council and additional schemes at this stage are likely to seriously erode the capacity of councils and their staff to be able to provide the level of support desirable.”

The letter highlights how North Yorkshire Council is facing a large revenue deficit again next year and beyond, as well as unquantifiable risks on hundreds of millions of pounds of infrastructure plans.

It adds:

“It is therefore important that resources are able to be directed to those principal area of responsibility including those commitments, deficits and projetcs bequeathed by all eight councils across North Yorkshire.”

‘Petty and wrong’

The letter says it has “been determined that no new section 24 requests will be considered, unless it is exceptionally urgent spend which endangers normal service delivery…”.

Nevertheless it adds:

“This does not mean that those schemes are rejected, merely that they are subjected to full consideration by the new North Yorkshire Council from April 1 onwards. Those that have already been submitted will be considered in due course.”

Leader of the opposition on the county council, Cllr Bryn Griffiths, said the county council’s move was short-sighted.

He said:

“Blocking the districts and boroughs using their own monies to fund schemes, which will support their own residents, is I feel just petty and wrong.

“It smacks of the Tories at County Hall not being democratic and trying to cream off the districts’ and boroughs’ money to shore up their own pet projects. They are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

Harrogate councillors to take some housing decisions under new council

Decisions over some housing developments are set to be handed to Harrogate councillors ahead of North Yorkshire Council coming into force.

The new authority will replace Harrogate Borough Council in April, which left questions over how decisions over planning would be made.

Now, the county council has outlined plans for six area committees which will consider planning applications at a local level.

Under proposals for its new constitution, the Harrogate and Knaresborough committee would oversee housing decisions in the constituency area.

Meanwhile, Ripon and Skipton committee would oversee planning in the Ripon area.

However, councillors in those area will only consider applications under 500 homes. Anything above that threshold will be considered by the strategic planning committee in Northallerton.

Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said it was important that local councillors make decisions in their local areas.

He said:

“Local voices and local accountability are central to the vision of the new North Yorkshire Council.

“Area committees are a key element in this, providing local community leadership in conjunction with the community networks we propose to create, helping to shape economic development in their locality and holding the executive to account, complementing the work of the scrutiny committees.”

The move comes as Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee, said previously that not handing powers to such committees would “erode accountability”.

In Harrogate, decisions are still expected on a bottling plant at Harrogate Spring Water and a 3,000 home town between Knaresborough and Cattall called Maltkiln.

Senior county councillors will consider the powers as part of a draft constitution for North Yorkshire Council at a meeting on January 17.

New council chief questions future of Harrogate Convention Centre

The incoming chief executive of the new North Yorkshire Council has raised questions about the future of Harrogate Convention Centre.

In a significant change of tone, Richard Flinton refused to commit to a £49 million redevelopment of the venue proposed by Harrogate Borough Council, which will be abolished at the end of March.

Mr Flinton also questioned the future use of the site, saying the conference and events venue needed to be vibrant and relevant in the face of competition from a new venue in Leeds rather than “an enormous drain on public finances”.

Speaking at Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly meeting at Rudding Park last night, Mr Flinton said the council had “inherited issues we didn’t expect” about the centre and decisions were not “straightforward”. He said:

“The level of investment the conference centre needs to make sure it’s a relevant venue is something we are facing up to.

“£50 million into one place is a big investment ask. We will need to understand how the conference centre earns its way, faces up to the challenge from Leeds and is a strong investable asset for the new council.”

Mr Flinton at last night’s meeting

Harrogate Borough Council has consistently defended the loss-making centre on the basis that the thousands of visitors it attracts benefit the town’s hotels, bars and restaurants and bring a wider economic benefit to the district as a whole.

But control of the venue will transfer to North Yorkshire Council on April 1, when it comes into existence and Harrogate Borough Council ceases to exist.

The new local authority, based in Northallerton, could find it harder to justify to residents in places such as Scarborough and Selby the merit of spending almost five per cent of its annual £1.2 billion budget on a single building in Harrogate.

In his speech last night, Mr Flinton also cited diversification as one of the new council’s business aims for Harrogate and said there were questions about the town’s over-reliance on the centre.

Michael Schofield, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harlow and St George’s on North Yorkshire County Council, asked whether the new council would consider “repurposing the HCC to make it a viable business”.

Mr Flinton reiterated that it needed to be vibrant rather than a drain on public finances.

Cllr Carl Les and Richard Flinton last night

Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, said:

“We have to consider it again with a fresh pair of eyes.”

In October, Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council formed a working group to discuss the convention centre’s £49 million redevelopment plan and how it could be funded, as well as how the venue should be run in the future.

New council will use Harrogate’s multi-million pound headquarters

North Yorkshire Council will deploy staff at Harrogate Borough Council’s Civic Centre, its chief executive has confirmed.

The Civic Centre at St Luke’s Avenue opened in December 2017 after HBC sold its offices in Harrogate, including Crescent Gardens for £4m, to help fund the move.

HBC said the move would lead to savings of £1m a year due to reduced maintenance and energy costs.

But with the impending abolition of the authority, there has been a question mark over what would happen to the building.

All of Harrogate Borough Council’s staff, except chief executive Wallace Sampson who is set to receive a redundancy package worth £101,274, will transfer over to the new authority on April 1.

North Yorkshire County Council chief executive Richard Flinton, who will become the boss of the new council, told business leaders in Harrogate last night that the new authority “has no intention of sucking people into a ‘super HQ’ based at County Hall (In Northallerton)”.

He was speaking at a Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting at Rudding Park alongside Cllr Carl Les, Conservative leader of NYCC and future leader of the new authority.

Mr Flinton said:

“We want a main office in every district area, We will be keeping the new office building in Harrogate and basing staff there. All the planners, development and housing people — all the main people that businesses and the public need to engage with — will be based in Harrogate.”

There had been concerns that, through the devolution process, the newly-built, bespoke council headquarters would no longer be needed as services were centralised across North Yorkshire.

The project was initially forecast to cost in the region of £9m, with £4m of that paid for by the sale of its other buildings. A contract of £11.5m was awarded to construction firm Harry Fairclough Ltd which has since gone into administration

HBC has since said the overall cost of the civic centre was £13.1m. However, an investigation by the Stray Ferret revealed the actual cost, including the value of the land which had not been included by the council, was in fact at least £17m.

Mr Flinton last night said preparations are ongoing to ensure a smooth transition from April 1. He compared the situation to the new millennium in 2000 when there were fears that technology would stop working when the clock struck midnight.

He said he wants local government reorganisation “to be the new millennium bug”.

“There was hype, worries and concern then it was a damp squib. There’s a million and one concerns but I hope it’s a millennium bug scenario and services are enjoyed by residents as they continue to be now.”

He added:

“There will be a lot of lifting and shifting of teams from the districts to the new unitary. That restructuring will carry on for the next year or so. Bear with us through that period.”

Knaresborough housing site should be reviewed under local plan, says councillor

A councillor has called for land earmarked for homes in Knaresborough to be reviewed under the council’s new housing plan.

North Yorkshire Council is set to draw up a new local plan when it comes into force in April. It will outline where development can take place across the Harrogate district over the next 30 years.

But Andy Bell, who sits on Knaresborough Town Council, has called for land at Water Lane in the town to be “questioned” after it was previously allocated for housing in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan.

The site was subject to a 170-home proposal last year, but it was thrown out by the government’s Planning Inspectorate on appeal.

Cllr Bell, a Liberal Democrat who spoke against the application at the Inspectorate hearing, said the new council should “think again” on the development.

He said:

“There have been four developments within a few hundred metres of this site recently, three of which are still under construction.

“We can not lose what makes Knaresborough special by allowing development if it is not right for the physical site or the community. This is not a no to all development.

“The Water Lane development had huge issues with access, no public transport provision, and was far too close to the neighbouring site of special scientific interest.

“It has been rejected at all levels of the planning process. It’s time to think again and question its place in the local plan.”

The Water Lane site is currently allocated for 148 homes under the current Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-2035.

The creation of a fresh local plan for North Yorkshire was agreed by senior councillors last month.

The new local plan will look ahead for a minimum of 15 years, and at least 30 years in relation to any larger scale developments, such as new settlements or significant urban extensions. It would encompass all areas of the county outside the national parks.

Conservative Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for growth and housing on the county council, said:

“The plan will be vital to the new North Yorkshire Council’s ambitions to deliver sustainable economic growth, through good homes and jobs, as well as the best facilities and infrastructure for everyone who lives or works in the county.

“Planning guidance will also play a key role in meeting our ambitious targets to tackle climate change. In addition, it can support other services in meeting the needs of our many communities at a local level, taking into account everything from transport and education to housing, health and social care.”

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