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Councils clash over local government shake-up plans

Council bosses have clashed over proposals for how North Yorkshire’s local councils should be organised in future as each looks to sell its vision to the public.

Last night, Cllr Carl Les, leader of the county council, and Cllr Richard Cooper, Harrogate Borough Council leader, along with chief executives of both authorities, addressed a virtual meeting of the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce over the issue.

While both camps said they agreed that the county needed devolved powers, they differed over how to reorganise local government – which is a requirement from ministers to negotiate for devolution. The county council wants one single authority to govern the county, while the seven district leaders have outlined plans for two councils, splitting the county between east and west.

Cllr Cooper – who also sits on the county council – was critical of the county council’s existing services, saying he had been forced to go and pull weeds out of the road on Commercial Street himself because the authority had failed to do so. Richard Flinton, chief executive of the county council, said he would not be drawn into a “tit for tat” argument with the borough council, but pointed out that any restructure would create a completely new authority, rather than a continuation of the existing county council.

He presented the authority’s case for a single council for the whole region except the City of York, which will remain as it is.

Mr Flinton argued that the proposal would not be centralised and would allow for more local powers through local action groups and devolving further powers to town and parish councils.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of the county council, made the authority’s case for a single council last night.

He added that the single council, which would cover 610,000 residents, would also save the most money at around £25 million a year, and serve rural areas better.

Mr Flinton said:

“What we need is a single service to deliver for those areas and to carry the cost of delivering in rural areas.

“We believe that the model we are putting forward will deliver more savings. I suspect that will be a dispute with the districts.”

The county council is working with PricewaterhouseCooper on its plans and Mr Flinton said the savings figure could change “once that piece of work is done”.

He added that a single council for a large county was “not unique” and had already been replicated elsewhere in Durham and Cornwall where districts have been scrapped in favour of one authority.

But Cllr Cooper, who has joined the six other district councils in devising an alternative proposal, said a single council alongside York would cause “disharmony and disfunction” in the new structure.

Both Cllr Cooper and Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, said there would be an “imbalance” in the county council’s plan. Mr Sampson said there needed to be “parity” between the two councils in the new structure.

Addressing the county council’s proposal, Mr Sampson said:

“There is a feeling that what is being proposed is a single model. There will be two authorities, but you will have one large and a relatively smaller York.

“We do not think that is good governance moving forward.”

Instead, the districts have proposed two councils – one in the east covering 465,000 people and another in the west which would cover 363,000.

Mr Sampson said the model would focus on being “as local as possible” and would have shared services across the two authorities. He added that the model, which has been devised between the district councils and KPMG, would save between £33 million and £53 million.

He said some services in York could be improved by joining with other councils into an east authority and that Harrogate would be better off economically under the district model.

It comes as government minsters have made a reduction in the number of councils in North Yorkshire a requirement of any devolution bid.

Councils across the county are currently in the process of agreeing a list of “asks” to submit to ministers, which propose £2 billion worth of investment as part of a devolution bid.

Extra buses for safety as district’s pupils go back to school

Extra buses will be provided by North Yorkshire County Council next week to reduce the risk of coronavirus among pupils using public transport go back to school.

The local authority has also introduced additional bus safety measures, such as asking pupils aged over 11 to wear face coverings.

Most buses will operate according to their usual timetable. But some additional journeys will take place on public service routes from next week to minimise contact among passengers as the number of pupils and commuters increases.

In Harrogate, the following additional services will be in place from September 7:

Service 36 Leeds – Harrogate – Ripon: Extra journeys between Leeds and Harrogate will occur during morning rush hour to accommodate additional commuters and students.
Service 1 Harrogate – Knaresborough. An additional journey has been added to this service from Harrogate to King James’ School, which is reserved for pupils only. It will depart from Harrogate at 7.56am and return from King James’ School at 3.25pm.
Service 24 Pateley Bridge – Harrogate. A new timetable and journey to Nidderdale High School has been added. An additional bus, 24S, is reserved for school and college students. It will depart Pateley Bridge at 7.20am to Harrogate and continue to St Aidan’s and St John Fisher schools. A journey from St John Fisher and St Aidan’s schools to Pateley Bridge will return in the afternoon.

Different safety measures will apply on school buses to those on public transport.

Social distancing is not required on school buses on the grounds that the vehicles will carry the same group of children regularly and no members of the public travel with them.

But school bus users will be asked to avoid unnecessary contact with other pupils by, for example, trying to sit in the same seat with the same group of pupils every day. Pupils aged over 11 are also encouraged to wear face coverings.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, executive member for education at NYCC, said:

“We would like to reassure parents and pupils that everything possible is being done to enable children to return to school and education as swiftly as possible, as well as minimise the risk of spreading the virus. The instructions for travelling on school buses and straight forward and largely the same as if you were visiting a shop or other public place.

“We expect that things will soon feel second nature to pupils and they can settle back into their school routine quickly.”

‘Someone is getting sacked!’ jokes over county council poster error

Harrogate residents have joked that “someone is getting sacked” for a printer error in a new bus shelter advertising campaign.

North Yorkshire County Council has put up posters encouraging people in Harrogate to run, bike and walk to work but there’s a small problem.

The poster has four symbols and while the ‘walk it’ and ‘love it’ match up there has been a mix up with the ‘bike it’ and ‘run it’ lines.

Some eagle-eyed residents noticed the mistake and took it to a Harrogate community Facebook page to poke fun at the council.

Rachel Webster snapped a picture on Knaresborough Road and shared a post which said: “When you see it…Bravo North Yorkshire County Council, bravo.”

Others commented that it “took a while to see the mistake,” that “someone was getting sacked” and that the proof reader “had one job”.

The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire County Council how many of these posters it had printed, how much it cost and what they plan to do now. The council did not respond to those questions but said it was happy for the publicity.

Fiona Ancell, Road Safety Team Leader, said:

“While we can see there is a mistake in their poster, the messages are still clear and we are glad for the extra publicity the posters are receiving.”

Open Harrogate is a North Yorkshire County Council project aimed at encouraging people to use more environmentally-friendly ways of travelling.

A1 (M) near Knaresborough faces 12 months of disruption

Roadworks are due to begin today at junction 47 of the A1(M) near Knaresborough, with the £7.7m project set to continue until autumn 2021.

Three of the four slip roads onto and off the roundabout will be widened to increase capacity and traffic lights will be installed to improve the traffic flow. North Yorkshire County Council hopes this will reduce the number of vehicles queuing on the A1 slip road.

Traffic lights will also be added to the T-junction between the A168 and the A59, a short distance from Junction 47 on the York side.

To the west of Junction 47, between the A1 and the Flaxby roundabout, a lane will be added for traffic travelling east, so there will be two lanes in each direction between those two roundabouts.

County Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for roads at NYCC said the council will work with the contractor to minimise disruption for motorists.

He said:

“At busy times, congestion is an issue at this junction, particularly for traffic coming off the southbound carriageway of the A1. The upgrades we will put in place will address this congestion, improve road safety and support development in the towns.”

There are several major housing developments planned for Knaresborough, including 600 homes at Manse Farm, which Cllr Mackenzie said the roadworks will support.

He added:

“We are looking ahead and helping to support sustainable growth by considering future housing developments, particularly along the A59 corridor between Knaresborough and York.

“Inevitably there will be inconvenience for drivers at certain times during the project, but we will give as much notice as possible and ask people to be patient.”

The project is being funded with £2.47m from the government’s Local Growth Fund along with contributions from NYCC, Highways England and developer Forward Investment LLP.

Debate over North Yorkshire devolution to ramp up in September

A month of battles over how devolution should look, whether district councils should be scrapped and what benefits a bid would bring to York and North Yorkshire, awaits residents in September.

As the process for grappling back powers from Westminster takes further steps forward, so too does the relentless battle to get each side of the argument out onto the airwaves and in the press.

So far, the battle has been solely on council reorganisation as the districts pitted themselves against the county council and its plan for a single unitary authority.

Ministers set a deadline for proposals from council leaders for a shake-up of local government to be submitted by September.

The latest in the PR war came from outside both camps as the County Council Network released a report which said scrapping upper-tier councils and replacing them with one authority in each area could save £2.94 billion nationally over five years.

But the districts will have their own consultants’ report in the shape of KPMG which could soon be used to bat the claims back.

Ahead of a busy month, both sides will make their case on September 7 when Cllr Carl Les, county council leader, and borough council leader Cllr Richard Cooper, are set to speak at a Harrogate Chamber of Commerce meeting on the topic.

They’ll be joined by chief executives from both authorities – Richard Flinton from the county council and Wallace Sampson of the borough council.

But, while the debate rages on about council reorganisation, others from outside the county and from other organisations have sought to argue for and against the bigger picture.

Arguments on the bigger picture for devolution

Across the county border into the Tees Valley, residents already have devolution and with it an elected mayor, Ben Houchen.

As previously reported, county council leaders routinely cite Mr Houchen and the region as the closest example of what they desire from devolved powers.

Conservative Mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen. Picture credit: Thames Valley Combined Authority.

This week, Mr Houchen weighed in on the debate in North Yorkshire and called on the county not to be left behind in wrestling powers back from ministers.

He said:

“North Yorkshire is at a critical crossroads at a key moment. As we recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the need to deliver economic growth, create good quality jobs and boost skills has never been more important. We need to take every opportunity to bridge the economic gap between north and south and provide fairer opportunities for all.

“A strong mayor working across the border with the Tees Valley would undoubtedly help me to make the case for the north and ensure it punches its weight nationally and internationally.

“This all starts, though, with a strong devolution deal and York and North Yorkshire must not miss the moment and risk getting left behind.

“I sincerely hope that councils across York and North Yorkshire will seize this moment and make sure that all proposals for the future local government in the county are given due consideration by the government without delay. The Tees Valley benefitted from its councils coming together and getting its devolution deal over the line while other areas found reasons to disagree, now North Yorkshire has a similar choice.”

Elsewhere, the effect of devolution and what it will mean for those that work in local government has not gone unnoticed.

Unison branches across local government in North Yorkshire have called for a “jobs first” deal which will protect jobs and redundancies, level up pay and conditions and minimise disruption to staff and services.

Wendy Nichols, regional convenor for Unison, said:

“Our members are busy delivering essential public services and supporting the response to the covid-19 emergency. Local government reorganisation is the last thing that they need now.

“However, we are pragmatic and we recognise that the government’s intentions are clear.

“They want a unitary system of local government from April 2022 and our focus across all our local government branches in North Yorkshire will be to secure the best outcome for our members and the communities they serve.”

County council approves £8m funding for highways company vehicles

Senior county councillors have approved £8 million worth of funding to purchase vehicles on behalf of the authority’s new highways company.

NY Highways Ltd, which was announced by the authority in June, is set to take over the council’s £40 million highways contract next year.

The new company will maintain the county’s roads and the authority said the new arrangement will give them greater flexibility and control, and will also remove “contractual constraints”.

Now, senior county councillors have approved £8 million worth of of additional funding on top of £2 million already set aside to purchase specialist vehicles.

A report before county councillors said:

“As the project has progressed, further scoping has been undertaken which has resulted in the identification of additional requirements.

“As a result, an additional £8m is requested to allow further orders to be placed on the same basis as the original approval. This will bring the total funding included in the capital plan for the advance purchase of vehicles to £10m.”

The cost is expected to be recharged to NY Highways Ltd once it is in operation, which is expected to be from June 1, 2021.

It comes as Ross Bullerwell has been announced as manager director of NY Highways. The council advertised the post for around £100,000 a year with flexible benefits.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, the executive member for access, welcomed the news of his appointment and said:

“Having our own company gives us greater control and flexibility over our highways service delivery, while removing the contractual constraints that exist with the current arrangements.

“Through more direct accountability for the works on the ground we aim to deliver a ‘right first time’ service with the customer continuing to be at the heart of everything that we do.”

Council bosses urge ‘sensible decisions’ amid covid costs

County council bosses have called for sensible financial decisions as the authority faces losing more than £11 million in council tax and business rates due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While the authority has taken measures to cover its losses on council tax, early indications show the council faces an overall £3.9 million overspend by the end of the year.

Gary Fielding, director for strategic resources, said the figure was offset by funding from government and underspends in other departments.

But, he told a meeting of senior councillors that he remained concerned by the effect of coronavirus on finances going forward.

Indications from the first three months of the year show that council faces £11.9 million in losses on business rates and council tax due to the pandemic. The authority has made provision for the cost, but said it was an early estimate which would effect next year’s finances.

Other areas of overspend include health and adult social care at £11.2 million, £1.4 in business and environment, £1.7 million on children and young people services, £7.9 million in central services and £11.3 million on corporate miscellaneous.

Health and adult services saw the most financial pressure, said Mr Fielding. This is because the council is expecting to cover the costs of care packages for those discharged from hospital at a cost of £4.8 million and is also forecasting an increase in demand for mental health care.

However, the authority has been supported with underspends in other council departments and offset its losses with £29.5 million worth of government funding.

Mr Fielding reiterated to councillors on the authority’s executive that he was not considering a section 114 notice – a measure taken in dire financial circumstances – but said he remained concerned about covid going forward.

He said:

“To be absolutely clear, we are not in a position where I need to be consider issuing a section 114 notice.

“We are not in that territory. I remain concerned about the impact that covid will have on the recurring position going forward and that’s why we are refreshing our medium term financial strategy and we need to make sure we are are sensible with our spending decisions in the current year.

“We will not need an emergency budget as such as some other councils have carried out. What we need to do is have sensible financial management within the council led by the executive and management board.”

It comes as other councils and public services have seen finances stretched due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Harrogate Borough Council faces an overall shortfall of around £9 million due to coronavirus. It has also seen a significant increase in caseloads for people requiring support for council tax and housing benefit.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said the county’s police force faces a loss in income of around £1.6 million.

The commissioner’s office said the estimated figure was an “early indication” and included areas such as a loss in speed camera income and no sports events to police.

James Street pedestrianisation ‘timely and appropriate’, says council

County council bosses have said a move to temporarily pedestrianise James Street in Harrogate is “timely and appropriate”.

It comes as the county council lent its support for a temporary pedestrianisation of the street, which could be in place as early as next month, but has faced opposition from some businesses and landlords.

Harrogate Borough Council requested the measure for “social distancing and safety purposes”. The move was then backed by Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access.

But business owners and landlords on the street, including ex-Leeds United star Danny Mills, have since opposed the decision and described it as “damaging”.

Now, Cllr Mackenzie has defended the decision and said that the move is an experiment after the borough council requested a full closure.

He said:

“NYCC is aware of the views expressed by some owners of James Street businesses who are opposed to plans to pedestrianise James Street.

“We wish to remind all business owners that, in response to the request from Harrogate Borough Council for full closure of James Street, the county council has indicated that it is willing to introduce as an experiment a temporary closure of a section of the street between 10am and 4.30pm each day.

“Such closures are being supported by the Department of Transport and are proving popular in various parts of the country both with residents and with local businesses. We believe, therefore, that our proposed trial closure is both timely and appropriate.”

Harrogate Borough Council has also been approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.

It comes as Mr Mills wrote to both county council leader, Carl Les, and borough council leader, Richard Cooper, calling for an urgent rethink of the decision.

Mr Mills, who has lived in Harrogate for 20 years and owns four properties on James Street, described the move as “very damaging” and said businesses needed all the help they can get.

Nick Hubbert is the general manager at Hoopers.

Meanwhile, the general manager at Hoopers, Nick Hubbert, also wrote to the borough council regarding pedestrianisation.

Mr Hubbert told the Stray Ferret that he does not believe that the temporary pedestrianisation of James Street will help businesses and said he based that on years of experience.

He added that he is not against pedestrianisation long term, but he does not think that the middle of a pandemic is the right time to change things.

County council to take over Henshaws home service

North Yorkshire County Council will take over the running of Henshaws’ supported living service from October.

Senior county councillors voted at a meeting of the authority’s executive today to take over the service, which currently has 10 properties in Harrogate with a capacity for 26 people in total.

It comes as county council bosses said they were not confident that handing over the service to another provider would not result in the loss of services and that taking over would “ensure full continuation of services”.

Cllr Michael Harrison, executive member for health and adult services at the county council, said it was important for the authority to remember those people who use the service when deciding to take it over.

He said:

“A key thing here is not to lose sight of the fact that we have got individuals living independent lives and in order to do that they receive support funded by ourselves.

“It is absolutely critical that we do not lose sight of the benefits of a contract like this. Ultimately, on the one hand you could look at pounds and pence but on the other hand this is people being facilitated and supported to live independently.

“It is really important from a council perspective that we make sure that is possible. I think this is a good decision from a continuity of service perspective.

“I think we can also look at what we are providing and the efficiency of doing that so we can deliver service continuity, efficient use of resources and positive recruitment opportunities in the Harrogate area.”

Richard Webb, director of health and adult services, added that transfer of staff over to the county council was subject to approval. If approved, the authority would then begin a recruitment process.

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Arguments on the bigger picture for devolution

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