Iran war will ‘undoubtedly’ impact North Yorkshire Council finances
The Iran war will ‘undoubtedly’ impact North Yorkshire Council’s finances, the authority’s leader has said.
The US-Israel war with Iran has already impacted petrol prices, mortgages, and the cost of energy bills and heating oil.
Cllr Carl Les, the leader of North Yorkshire Council, has said that the ongoing conflict will “undoubtedly” impact the authority’s finances.
Many of the council’s operations in England’s geographically largest county “lean heavily on oil and diesel-related costs”.
However, the leader noted that while the authority was monitoring the situation, it “won’t be until the Q1 outturn that we will get more of a sense of the impact across the council”.
Cllr Les said that conflict in the Middle East will have repercussions and “serious impacts for us in North Yorkshire, both the council and our residents”.
“Everybody is seeing higher prices, not least on garage forecourts, which is impacting on the cost of living for our residents and adversely affecting the cost-of-service delivery and operations in general within the council, especially any service that involves travel by road, and also road repairs where a key cost is bitumen.
"Inflation in construction costs is also rising sharply,” he commented.
In terms of residents, Cllr Les said NYC was currently in the process of developing its approach to the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a new three-year scheme funded by the government to help low-income households manage unexpected financial shocks and strengthen financial resilience.
The authority’s leader added that the council will continue to work with “a broad range of partners to develop the scheme and make this support as accessible as possible to people in our communities”.
“In the interim period, support is available for oil heating costs, and those in financial crisis via our North Yorkshire Local Assistance Fund (NYLAF), and Housing Payment scheme; to ensure that those who are struggling to afford the significant increases in living costs have somewhere to turn.”
It comes as a public consultation is to be held over plans to increase maximum taxi fares in North Yorkshire after councillors supported proposals.
The executive committee of NYC approved a five per cent rise after hearing about the impact on drivers from steep rises in fuel prices due to the war in Iran.