‘STRONG localities delivering strong services’ will be at the heart of the new single council serving Craven and the whole of North Yorkshire, says the leader of the soon to be defunct North Yorkshire County Council.

Following last week’s Government announcement that a single local authority would be created by 2023, replacing the current two tier system in Craven of North Yorkshire County Council and Craven District Council, Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council has sought to allay fears.

Following the announcement, Cllr Richard Foster, leader of Craven District Council, which will also be scrapped, has said he is 'disappointed' by the decision which he describes as a ‘desk-top’ exercise by the Government.

He also raised concerns over what the reforms will mean for staff and how councils can still respond to the pandemic as they prepare for what will be the biggest changes to local government in the county in almost 50 years.

Under proposals put forward by six of the the county’s district and borough councils, two smaller authorities would have been created, with Craven, Harrogate, Richmondshire and Hambleton forming one council in the West, with a population of 363,000, and Selby, City of York, Ryedale and Scarborough, a unitary council in the East, with a population of 465,000.

It was however North Yorkshire County Council’s proposals for a single council for North Yorkshire, looking after a population of 211,000, with just York left on its own, that was favoured by the Government.

Cllr Foster, talking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, said: “The single council model was always the front runner but my biggest annoyance is that this has been a desktop exercise by the government who have not been to North Yorkshire to see the area on the ground.

“To decide the local government future for over 500,000 people in that way is disappointing to say the least.

“We have also always said this is the wrong time to be doing this. We have now got to deal with reorganisation whilst also somehow finding time to deal with our response to the pandemic.

“This will take up a huge amount of officer time when we should be moving forward and getting Craven’s recovery going.”

He added: “I hope we can have constructive discussion within North Yorkshire to ensure areas like Craven don’t just disappear. The loss of place could be massive.

“We need to protect jobs and look after our staff who have worked exceptionally hard during the pandemic.”

Also reacting to the announcement, Cllr Andy Solloway, leader of the Independent Group on Craven District Council, said the “fundamental flaw” with the east/west bid was that it would have engulfed City of York Council without its backing.

Under the reforms, City of York Council, already a unitary authority, will remain as it is.

Cllr Solloway added: “We have now got to forget there have been two opposing bids – it is time to work together.

“We councillors come and go, we are the governance of an authority, the real strength of councils are the staff who will now be feeling very unsettled.

“The people who empty our bins and support people in care homes – they are our backbone and they really do need our support.”

Cllr Andy Brown, leader of the Green Party group on Craven District Council, has also expressed his disappointment over the decision which he said “resembles a hostile takeover that has been organised with the prime intent of helping a small group of politicians from one party to increase their power.”

But, Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said one single council will “make things simpler for everyone” and ensure services are “fit for the future”.

He said 25 ‘community network centres’ - including in Skipton, Settle and Ingleton, would be created in the county to ‘drive local change’ while local decisions, including planning, would be made by six area consistency committees geographically based on the current Skipton and Ripon parliamentary boundaries.

Cllr Les said: “Strong localities delivering strong services will be at the heart of North Yorkshire’s new council.

“In our proposal, local priorities will be decided via 25 community networks based around market town areas with the voluntary sector, community members and partners like the police, fire and NHS coming together to drive local change, enterprise and solutions.

"We propose that they will have a budget and a big voice to make things happen. The new council will support these community networks in pulling together their own plans."

He added: “Around the end of this year, the Structural Changes Order, the legislation that will ratify the Secretary of State’s decision, will be put before Parliament. This will be drafted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

“Following approval of the Structural Changes Order, agreement on detailed arrangements for the community networks will be decided by the newly elected councillors due to be elected in May 2022. Communities and partners will be consulted before a decision is taken.

“Greater powers and funding will also pass to parish and town councils, for those that would welcome it.”

The six new ‘area consistency committees’ will says Cllr Les ‘provide greater transparency and will hold the new North Yorkshire council to account’.

He said: “The area constituency committee serving Craven would have the same boundary as Skipton and Ripon parliamentary constituency, as does the current county council area constituency committee.

“Area constituency committees would use delegated powers to make decisions in areas including local planning, licensing, public rights of way, highways and potentially others.”

He said it was anticipated that meetings for the ‘Skipton and Ripon’ committee would take place in the two towns, but with detailed arrangements to be agreed by the new set of councillors.

It will be up to the new councillors to decide from where local services are delivered although a ‘main office’ in each former district will be retained.

“These centres will offer face-to-face expertise and advice on a broad range of public services as well as practical meeting space to support local decision-making and democracy,” said Cllr Les.

“These centres will be supported by a network of 30 additional customer access sites, which will offer people the opportunity to get advice and support in, or as close as possible to, where they live or work.

“The intricacies of this broader access for the public will be worked through over the coming months as the county and district councils work collaboratively to deliver the very best for North Yorkshire.”

There will be about 90 councillors serving the whole of North Yorkshire, with the Structural Changes Order will set out the divisions/wards and number of councillors in each.

As for the name of the new single authority, that too is yet to be decided.

Cllr Les said: “This will be determined by the Government in the Structural Changes Order, but we hope that the naming of the new authority recognises the strong brand that is North Yorkshire.”