A CRAVEN councillor has been elected to North Yorkshire County Council's decision making Executive board.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan will be the executive member for education and skills, including early years, schools, apprenticeships and further education colleges.

He will also be required to engage with the skills agenda of the Local Enterprise Partnership.

Cllr Mulligan, who has stepped down as deputy leader of Craven District Council, but remains ward member for Aire Valley with Lothersdale, was elected onto the Executive at the annual meeting of the county council.

The meeting, held at County Hall, Northallerton, saw Cllr Carl Les re-elected as council leader.

Cllr Les pledged that the authority would work to achieve the best for North Yorkshire and believed new faces elected onto the council at the recent elections would provide renewed impetus.

“Our priority will always be to protect the frontline services that benefit all residents of North Yorkshire as much as we can, but in these uncertain times when we will continue to face austerity for many years to come, it is inevitable that the nature of services and the way they are delivered will continue to change," he said.

Cllr Les said the council was in a strong financial position to face the challenges ahead and as a newly elected council, would face them with renewed vigour.