THE outgoing chairman of Craven District Council’s Planning Committee thanked councillors and officers at his last meeting before standing down.

Cllr Alan Sutcliffe (Con, Gargrave and Malhamdale) said at the the remotely held meeting on August 3, that it was the last time he would be chairing the committee and that he would be replaced by Cllr Linda Brockbank (Con, Bentham).

He said if everything went to plan, he would be elected vice chairman of the council at its annual meeting the day after, and become its chairman the following year in April, 2021.

He added: “That will be the last chairman of council I think for Craven District Council, as by 2022 we are likely to have a new authority in place.”

Cllr Sutcliffe said he was first elected chairman of planning in 2016 and he had enjoyed determining applications in ‘the old fashioned way’ before the council moved to remote meetings in the coronavirus crisis.

He said he believed meetings would continue to be held remotely for some time, and believed his successor, Cllr Brockbank, would cope with the technology better than he.

Cllr Brockbank thanked Cllr Sutcliffe and wished him the best of luck as council vice chairman.