Government have provided an update on the consultation for changes to the local government structure in North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire County Council proposed a single council for North Yorkshire, but to retain the current unitary council for York.
The Borough Councils proposed a two council system, split east to west, including York.
Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for the Ministry o Housing, Communities and Local Government said:
For North Yorkshire I have decided to implement, subject to Parliamentary approval, the proposal for a single unitary council for the whole of the existing administrative county of North Yorkshire.
I considered that this proposal strongly met all three of the criteria.
I have also decided not to implement the proposal for two unitary councils – one council comprising the existing areas of Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby and the current unitary of York, and the other council comprising the existing areas of Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate and Richmondshire.
I considered that this proposal did not meet the improving local government and service delivery and credible geography criteria.
The changes would see a single county super-council governing from Scarborough to Skipton, and from Selby to Richmondshire.
The statement from the Minister has some ambiguity as it does not explicitly mention if York will remain as a unitary council, that was the proposal put forward by North Yorkshire County Council.
Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for the Ministry o Housing, Communities and Local Government said:
On 12 October 2020 [HCWS502] I told the House that I had issued invitations under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (“the 2007 Act”) to principal councils in Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and Somerset, including associated existing unitary councils, to submit proposals for moving to unitary local government in those areas. Councils in these areas had requested such invitations and had been developing ideas about restructuring local government in their areas for some time.
On 22 February 2021 I told the House [HCWS785] that I was launching a statutory consultation on all of the eight locally-led proposals for reorganising local government that I had received on 9 December in response to the invitation. These proposals were – four from councils in Cumbria, two from councils in North Yorkshire and two from councils in Somerset. In the case of each area there is a proposal made by the county council for a unitary authority covering the whole area. In the case of North Yorkshire and Somerset there is a proposal from district councils for two unitary authorities in each area. In Cumbria district councils have made three proposals, each of which involve establishing two unitary authorities.
When launching the consultation I made it clear that I welcomed views from any interested persons, including residents, in addition to the named consultees. The named consultees were the councils which made the proposals, other councils affected by the proposals, councils in neighbouring areas, public service providers, including health providers and the police, Local Enterprise Partnerships, and certain other business, voluntary sector and educational bodies. The consultation closed on 19 April and I have received a total of 13,020 responses. I will be depositing a summary of the consultation responses in the libraries of Parliament.
As a member of the public affect by this l do believe there needs to a bullet point run down of the implications of this. Alongside there needs to be a clear cut provision of services and the public who pay for these services need to be made abreast of possible cut backs in services NOW rather then after the event