Scarborough Council apologises for 'perfect storm' of delays caused by lack of staff and recruitment

Speaking at a meeting of the authority’s cabinet, Cllr Liz Colling apologised to members of the public and businesses over delays “around planning and the issues we are having around retaining and recruiting planners”.

The cabinet member for inclusive growth added: “But I understand it may be more widespread than just the planning department which is in my portfolio.”

At the cabinet meeting on Tuesday October 18, it was revealed that Scarborough Council is facing a “perfect storm” in relation to staffing in some departments.

Both the upcoming local government reorganisation as well as a shortage of qualified planners has left the authority struggling to meet targets.

Cllr Janet Jefferson, the cabinet member for corporate resources, said: “At the current time, the main issues relate to staffing shortages and additional workloads which are arising from the impending local government reorganisation.”

The local government reorganisation will see Scarborough Council replaced by a new North Yorkshire Council next April, with plans for greater local decision-making and regional autonomy for the county.

This summer a Freedom of Information request revealed that more than 600 Scarborough Council staff had left their jobs since 2018 due to resignations, redundancies, and dismissal.

The authority has stated recently that second on the list of 10 top risks currently facing the council is a failure to “recruit and retain staff”.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, the council’s CEO, Mike Greene who is leaving his position in November, also addressed the staffing issue while paying tribute to the hard work put in by employees of the council.

Mr Greene said: “I don’t have the figures to hand but to give a general overview to the cabinet, I think it is fair to describe certain areas of council responsibility as a bit of a perfect storm in many ways.

“If you take the planning service, who work exceptionally hard and we have some great planners, nationally there is a shortage of planners.”

He added: “It isn’t just planning, some other areas of the council, quite wide-ranging actually, in terms of where there are skill shortages nationally but we are also being impacted by changes that are taking place.”

Mr Greene said the council was working with North Yorkshire County Council and neighbouring authorities “to look at opportunities to reassure people and keep them within our council”.

Current council staff have been assured that they will keep their jobs through the upcoming transition, but concerns have been raised by councillors and trade unions about the exact nature of the shift.

However, Cllr Jefferson also said that “in terms of performance indicators, over 86 per cent are performing at a high or acceptable level”.

She said that areas performing particularly well include benefits, “with an increase in the accuracy of claims being processed and a reduction in the time taken to process new claims for local support for council tax”.