Town and Parish councils in North Yorkshire are not going to be forced to take on responsibilities they don't want.
That's the message from the county council as talks progress about what's being called "double devolution".
As part of the local government reorganisation taking place in April the existing county council and borough and district councils will all be abolished an replaced with a single unitary authority for the whole of the county.
As part of those changes some town and parish councils will be given the opportunity to take over the running of some local services.
But county councillor - Michael Harrison says it's a bottom-up approach which will be led by the parish councils themselves.
A pilot project next year will see the six of the lower tier councils invited to put forward plans to take over some services from the county council.
Some of the county's leading councillors say they believe that enabling town and parish councils to take over the running of some public services will improve their effectiveness.
Deputy Leader, Councillor Gareth Dadd, is backing the idea.
Giving an example, Councillor Dadd said if Thirsk Town Council agreed it could take over the running of the town’s twice-weekly markets which have been run by Hambleton District Council.
Executive member for customer engagement, Councillor Greg White, says parish councils would need to demonstrate they had the expertise to take on any extra service.
He said:
“They are not going to go from running their local play park to running bin collections or a crematorium.”
A meeting of the county council's executive committee heard that while the authority would only agree to transfer powers to town and parish councils if the move would be “cost neutral”, the county council had stated in its local government reorganisation bid to government that it would consider transferring its budget for such things.
A meeting of the council’s executive was told parish and town councils would be offered “double devolution” following the county and York being granted devolved powers from Westminster in April 2024.
Initially six parish and town councils will be selected for a pilot scheme, in which they will be given the existing budget for running the service.
The move comes several years after the council handed over the management of the vast majority of its libraries to community groups, amid an outcry, as it strived to cut costs. Although there are some continuing concerns at some libraries, the move has since widely been heralded as a success.
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