North Yorkshire County Council’s leadership has defended itself amid claims that its largely older male membership has not experienced the impacts of motorists speeding through market towns and villages.

Knaresborough councillor Hannah Gostlow and Selby member Melanie Ann Davis told a meeting of the authority’s transport scrutiny committee action to tackle road safety in built-up areas was being limited due to the executive having different experiences to those of women, people with pushchairs and young people.

The council’s 10-member executive features two women and the majority of its members are aged above 50.

The meeting examining road safety and the introduction of 20mph zones in built-up areas also heard claims North Yorkshire Police were routinely failing to tackle motorcyclists as well as refusing to enforce 20mph zones.

The meeting heard while road incidents in the county had seen 36 people killed in 2020 and 37 the year before, motorcyclists had accounted for seven of the deaths in 2020 and 11 in 2019, which represented a far higher proportion than the volume of motorbikes on North Yorkshire’s roads.

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Councillors heard the council had been examining the decision to make Wales one of the first countries in the world to introduce legislation to have a 20mph speed limit on roads where cars mix with pedestrians and cyclists.

Cllr Gostlow told the committee the majority of people supporting the Welsh move had been women and those with young families and that North Yorkshire’s executive lacked the experience of walking on narrow paths beside busy roads.

She said the executive needed to listen to grass roots views rather than “deal down from the top”, adding: 

“I am worried that the executive do not represent the people who are going to benefit.”

Cllr Davis agreed, saying the “car was king because it represents economic power” and that the views of women and young people were being overlooked.

After the meeting, the authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les said he did his best to balance the executive in terms of gender, between retired people and those in work and in terms of geographical coverage.

He said: 

“I think we are all road users and represent those people in our communities and I wouldn’t say it has any adverse effect on our decisions.”

Mobile cameras ‘effective’

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said its mobile safety cameras were effective when used on any vehicle, including motorbikes.

The force said it had publicised a significant amount of prosecutions involving motorcyclists, including riders who have been recorded exceeding 120mph and riders who have been prosecuted for various dangerous driving offences.

The spokesperson added: 

“Independent research by Newcastle University has found that North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety cameras have reduced casualties by 20 per cent in the areas they’ve been deployed to.

“The force decides where to deploy cameras based on lots of different factors around risk and safety. These include data about previous collisions, demand from communities and even the weather.

“We never consider locations based on the revenue they could generate. This is a common misconception, but finances are made publicly available every year. The figures clearly show that some years the service costs slightly more to run than it generates, and other years vice versa.

“Residents frequently raise concerns about speeding in their communities specifically request mobile safety cameras, which we’ve deployed on a wide range of roads including village high streets, outside schools, suburban routes, main roads and rural roads.”

Harrogate footballer Rachel Daly has made the England squad for the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament this summer.

Daly, who went to Saltergate and Rossett schools, now plays in the United States for Houston Dash.

The full-back is also an experienced international who has made 46 appearances and scored seven goals for her country since her debut in 2016.

Manager Sarina Wiegman has used the versatile Daly as a substitute in recent fixtures.

The Lionesses have reached the Women’s Euros final twice before in their history, in 1984 and 2009.

This year’s tournament will be played in England and the squad will be hoping home advantage will give them an extra edge. They are in a group with Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.

Daly, along with the rest of the squad, today met Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, who wished them luck.

⚽️ Wishing the very best of luck to the @Lionesses ahead of this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.

A major tournament on home soil is an exciting prospect and it’s clear the players are looking forward to the opportunity to show what they can do. pic.twitter.com/RzoZ4BYvMk

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 15, 2022

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When do England play?

Wednesday July 6

England vs Austria, 8pm, Old Trafford

Monday July 11

England v Norway, 8pm, Brighton and Hove Community Stadium

Friday July 15

Northern Ireland v England, 8pm, St Mary’s

All of England’s games will be shown live on the BBC.

https://twitter.com/RachelDaly3/status/1537115164931153920?s=20&t=Hl6Dk4RnCIKTtmbWt6blwQ

Female councillors have called for action to improve the representation of women in North Yorkshire local government.

Just 24 out of the 90 councillors elected on May 5 to serve on North Yorkshire County Council for a year and four years on its unitary council successor are women. This equates to just under 27%.

The proportion roughly reflects the 26% of female councillors previously elected to North Yorkshire County Council and the 29% of female candidates standing in the election.

All the main political parties fielded significantly fewer women candidates than men, a situation which was also replicated by the Independent candidates as a group.

Ahead of the polls, equality campaigners said the imbalance would make it “nigh-on impossible” for those elected to reflect the population they serve — unlike neighbouring local authorities such as Leeds, Durham and East Riding, where respectively more than 50%, 38% and 36% of councillors are women.

However, other largely rural county councils such as Devon, Norfolk and Cumbria all have fewer than 30% female councillors.

When asked why the proportion of women elected in North Yorkshire last week was low, numerous female councillors said they were at a loss to explain it and would welcome a council scrutiny committee investigation into the reasons.

Responding to the election results, Scarborough councillor Liz Colling, a Labour member, said:

“I always think action should be taken to encourage women to speak up to feel empowered to act as voices for their community.”

Cllr Janet Sanderson, who was the sole woman serving on the council’s 10-member decision-making executive before the election, said it was important to select candidates on merit rather than gender.

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The Thornton Dale Conservative member said to encourage more women to put themselves forward in future, it was crucial to get the conditions right for women to serve as she had faced aggression from people making complaints.

Cllr Sanderson said:

“As a woman I would feel terribly aggrieved if I thought I had been put on a shortlist because I was a woman.

“The whole environment needs to change. It’s a very male-dominated arena and a lot of women would need a lot of confidence before they put themselves up for that, which is a great shame.”

Upper Dales councillor Yvonne Peacock said in her 23 years as a Tory councillor she had never encountered issues as a woman, and that meetings had even been rearranged to ensure she could carry out a school run minibus service.

Calls for ‘better balanced’ executive

Experienced councillors Caroline Goodrick, who secured the Sheriff Hutton seat as an Independent by just seven votes, and Janet Jefferson, who were both handed leading committee roles by the last administration, said they hoped the new executive would have a better balance.

Cllr Goodrick said:

“I’m a great believer that it should be more representative of the spread of the electorate and I’m not sure the result achieved that, but I’m also a believer in democracy and the electorate get what they vote for.”

Scarborough Independent councillor Jefferson said she had never encountered any gender bias at County Hall.

She added:

“I would welcome an inquiry as I would like to know the reason why we get more predominance of men than women because I would have thought it was an even playing field.”

Campaigners believe it is extremely unlikely a local authority being established to shape and run North Yorkshire’s public services in the 21st century will reflect its population as less than a third of those running to represent communities are women.

An analysis of the 310 candidates running to serve a five-year term on North Yorkshire Council from next month has found just 90 are women.

All the main parties contesting the election are fielding significantly fewer women candidates than men, a situation which is also replicated by the independent candidates as a group.

Of its 90 candidates the Conservatives are fielding 20 women. The Liberal Democrats have 13 female candidates out of 48, while the Green Party has 18 women out of 50 candidates. The Labour Party has selected 19 women out of the 67 candidates it has put forward.

In some areas of the county the gender imbalance is more pronounced than others. Of the 33 candidates in the Craven area just six, or 18%, are women.

While the gender imbalance of the candidates roughly reflects the 26% of female councillors currently elected to North Yorkshire County Council, some other nearby local authorities have significantly higher proportions of women. More than 50% of Leeds City councillors are women.

Frances Scott, founder of the 50:50 Parliament, a group dedicated to enabling women to progress in politics, said with a low proportion of female candidates across all the parties for the North Yorkshire poll “it seems well nigh on impossible that the elected body will be truly reflective of the population”.

She said society needed to question why people from a group of half of North Yorkshire’s population were unable or not choosing to participate in the election.

She said:

“It’s partly about the selection committees not choosing women. We tend to choose in our own image and what we have seen before as the image of a politician. All these things are changing, but not quickly enough.”

Ms Scott added while some women were not prepared to put up with “having stones thrown”, legislation was needed to enable parents to support each other. She said: “If we are going to engage the brightest and the best to run the country we need to make sure the institutions are ones that will attract the brightest and best.

“In order to succeed in politics you need to have the support of your family and we need men to be supportive of women going into these roles.”

Many party officials privately admit changing what has traditionally been seen as a “boys’ club” at County Hall could take years as it would mean changing voters’ perception of the type of person that would be a suitable community representative.

However, all political groups said the main reason for a low proportion of female candidates in the election was a lack of women coming forward.

A spokesman for the Conservative Whitby and Scarborough group said its selection policy was “absolutely gender neutral” and out of the women who had come forward to be candidates in its area only one had not been selected.

He said:

“We can only put forward female candidates if female candidates apply.”

A Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said the Richmond constituency party had noted women were facing more practical and emotional barriers to becoming councillors than men, with many already juggling family and work commitments.

A Labour Party spokesman for the area added the gender imbalance was partly being perpetuated because established councillors, most of whom are men, were more likely to be selected due to their experience. He said the party was in favour of policies which boosted candidates from under-represented groups.

A Richmond constituency Green Party spokeswoman added:

“We have a policy of pushing women forward, but as a small party it’s more a matter of finding who is willing to stand.”