Scarborough Could Get Town Council

Plans to reform local government in North Yorkshire would see Scarborough Borough Council abolished and could see a town council created instead.

A consultation on the future of North Yorkshire is underway.

The Government wants to replace two tier local government with unitary authorities as part of it's plan for devolution.

Two plans for the future of the county have been put forward, one would see the county split in two with an eastern county taking in Scarborough, Ryedale, Selby and York.

The other plan would see North Yorkshire County Council effectively take over the roles of the existing district councils.

Either way Scarborough Borough Council would cease to exist.

Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire county council, he says that in their "one North Yorkshire" plan local decisions would de made by area committees.

County Council Chief Exec Richard Flinton says under the one big council plan, Scarborough could end up with a town council instead of the borough council.

Residents and businesses in North Yorkshire are currently served by a two-tier system of local government.

North Yorkshire County Council is responsible for services such as adult and children’s social care, maintaining roads and libraries, and the District Councils – Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby  - are responsible for services such as rubbish collection, housing and planning and environmental health. The City of York Council is a unitary local authority and is responsible for all local government services in its area.

The councils in North Yorkshire have been developing ideas about restructuring local government for some time.  On 9 October 2020 the Secretary of State invited the principal councils in North Yorkshire, and the neighbouring unitary council of York, to submit locally led proposals for unitary local government.

The Secretary of State received two proposals from councils in North Yorkshire:

Six of the seven districts within North Yorkshire (all bar Hambleton) have proposed two unitary councils (East and West) - the East comprising Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby districts and the current unitary of York, and the West comprising Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate and Richmondshire districts.

North Yorkshire County Council has proposed a single unitary on the footprint of the existing administrative county, to operate alongside the existing unitary City of York Council. 

The Secretary of State will make a final decisions as to what the future arrangements for the governance of the county will be, assessing the plans against three criteria.

The Government say that the proposals should seek to achieve for the area concerned the establishment of a single tier of local government, that is the establishment of one or more unitary authorities:

• which are likely to improve local government and service delivery across the area of the proposal, giving greater value for money, generating savings, providing stronger strategic and local leadership, and which are more sustainable structures;
• which command a good deal of local support as assessed in the round overall across the whole area of the proposal; and
• where the area of each unitary authority is a credible geography consisting of one or more existing local government areas with an aggregate population which is either within the range 300,000 to 600,000,or such other figure that,having regard to the circumstances of the authority, including local identity and geography,could be considered substantial

The public along with local organisations and businesses have been invited to give their thoughts on the proposals in a consultation which started this week and runs until April 21st.

Responses can be submitted using an online form at https://consult.communities.gov.uk/governance-reform-and-democracy/northyorkshire/consultation/

They can also be sent via email or post,the details can be found here https://consult.communities.gov.uk/governance-reform-and-democracy/northyorkshire/

There is more information on the proposal from North Yorkshire County Council on their website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/stronger-together

More information on the East/West plan can be found at https://www.get-change-right.com/