Harrogate Borough Council has a new Deputy Leader following Cllr Michael Harrison’s accepting a position on the Executive at North Yorkshire County Council.
Councillor Michael Harrison has stepped down from the Deputy Leadership at HBC to join the Executive at NYCC and take on the portfolio of Adult Services and Health Integration. As a result, Councillor Graham Swift has taken on the role of Deputy Leader at HBC.
Cllr Harrison, who has been a HBC councillor since 2004, will continue taking a lead role alongside Cllr Swift on HBC’s Office Accommodation project – which is heading towards a successful completion later this year, with the new Knapping Mount building being on time, and on budget.
Cllr Harrison said: It has been an honour to serve as Deputy Leader for HBC, and I know Graham will continue the task of ensuring the council delivers top quality services that our residents want, in the most efficient way possible, whilst doing all we can to support the District’s economy. I will be continuing to support the leader Cllr Richard Cooper and Graham in any way I can.
The role of executive member for Adult Services and Health Integration is a considerable one, accounting for 42% of NYCC’s annual budget. Residents will be aware of the challenges nationally with Adult Social Care and with North Yorkshire having a population age profile now that is where the rest of the country will be in 5 years time demonstrates the importance of this area.
Harrogate has strong representation at NYCC with two local councillors sitting on NYCC’s executive, with Cllr Don Mackenzie retaining his Highways portfolio, along with new responsibilities for Rail.
