NYCC have said that analysis of the financial case for a “single” new council for North Yorkshire has indicated savings of £252 million over five years. It of course doesn’t mean that the Borough Council’s proposal of two councils wouldn’t save more, but we don’t have the cost savings for their model.
NYCC have paid accountancy firm, PWC, for these findings – we have not had visibility of the report.
There are two proposals on the table:
- A council with York City Council remaining and NYCC retaining its current services, along with Borough Councils services
- A two-council model being put forward collectively by all the Borough Councils
Responding to the evidence base, Cllr Gareth Dadd, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for Resources and Deputy Leader, said:
We are presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity at a key moment in our history, as we battle to emerge from the devastating impacts of the pandemic. A unique chance to deliver very significant savings that will be ploughed back into frontline services, support enhanced local democracy and end unnecessary waste. Our bid maximises all the benefits and delivers those benefits more quickly. It is also the least disruptive.
Our proposal represents a saving of up to £185 a year for every household in North Yorkshire which would be put back into service delivery. It would be negligent of us to not to chase down such an opportunity.
No other bid can deliver the scale of savings in such a timeframe, while protecting nationally recognised services for the county’s most frail and vulnerable residents.
The county council’s Leader, Cllr Carl Les, said:
We have developed our own proposal using in-house expertise and our strong knowledge of the county, based on delivering services to every single resident here. However, we have taken the sensible step of having our financial case validated by external experts, as the public would expect on such an important matter.
PWC have applied the same model to a range of proposals, including that set out by the seven district councils here. The options analysis has therefore been done on a fair and consistent basis.
Both bids end the current two-tier system of districts and county and both bids result in two councils delivering all services to York and North Yorkshire.
We believe very strongly that it should be for Government to decide which is the strongest bid, not us, as we have said this from the start. We therefore hope that both proposals will go forward for the Secretary of State’s consideration.
