Plan published in row over future make up of North Yorkshire local government

North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) published their final proposals this evening, which council leader Carl Les said were “built on knowledge and expertise”.

But Keane Duncan, leader of Ryedale council, speaking on behalf of the seven district councils who propose splitting the area into two, said the county council had used “scare tactics” and that the upheaval of reorganisation may not even lead to the prize of devolution.

Local leaders were told earlier this year by the Government that in order to secure a devolution deal with Whitehall, unlocking extra money and powers plus a metro mayor, that one or more unitary authorities needed to be formed to replace the current district/county set up.

NYCC proposes creating one single unitary authority for the majority of North Yorkshire, covering 600,000 people, while leaving City of York to continue as its own authority as it currently is.

While the seven district council want an east and west model, which would see Craven, Harrogate, Richmondshire and Hambleton join together to form a unitary council in the west, and Selby, City of York, Ryedale and Scarborough join together to form a unitary council in the east.

According to the study, released last week, this model would produce two unitary authorities with a similar population and economic size that meet the government’s reform criteria.

But Mr Duncan warned that it was “telling” that neither Boris Johnson nor Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick mentioned metro mayors at the Tory Conference last month.

And there had been reports that the Government was going cold on handing out devolution deals after a public wrangling with Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham over coronavirus restrictions and support.

“It does make you wonder, are we going to actually get in there? Are we actually going to get a combined authority at the end of this, which is supposed to be the prize for going through that reorganisation process?,” Mr Duncan said.

“I severely doubt that, and it seems to me more and more unlikely.”

The Mail on Sunday reported a Conservative Party source had suggested the very public row with Mr Burnham would lead to a “serious rethink of the mayor programme”, with the newspaper reporting ministers were reviewing signing new devolution deals.

But Northern Powerhouse Minister Grant Shapps reaffirmed support for devolution while speaking at the Great Northern Conference last week.

And Mr Les said he was confident the Government would still push forward with plans.

“Boris is very keen on mayors, as we know, and I think that's because he was one for eight years, and he sees the value in having a single voice standing up for an area.

“Yes, there are tensions at the moment. But I mean, let's face it, ever since Andy Burnham was elected there have been tensions about this, as indeed there are with Sadiq Khan, but I don't think that spoils the principle of actually having the elected mayors.”

Launching their document Mr Les said: “Up to now we've been releasing parts of our thinking as we've been crystallizing them, so now it's all coming together.

“We released the financial figures at the back end of last week, and I think the financial figures speak for them themselves, there are considerable savings to be made, savings that will become increasingly required going forward as we try to balance our budgets in the future, without having to go to the council taxpayer or without having to go to the Treasury, and keep asking for yet more yet more money.”

NYCC says £30m a year can be saved under their plan but Mr Duncan said similar cost savings would be found with the alternative too, once the cost of reorganisation was taken into account.

But pitting himself against the district councils, who employed consultants KPMG to undertake their research, Mr Les said: “I hope that people will appreciate that a lot of work has gone into this, a lot of work done by ourselves.

“The only use that we have made of consultants is to get them to verify our financial figures, because the last thing we want to do is put some suspect figures in front of officials and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I would be very embarrassed if we put some figures that could be challenged by Rishi.

“But the work has been done by a small team of our officers, based on the fact that we already have experience since 1974, of delivering adult services, children's services and highways.”

Mr Duncan defended the use of KPMG, saying there would be more details added to their plan as time went on.

He said: “The simple reason for that is that the County decided in effect they wanted a county unitary before actually looking at all the options whereas we said ‘well, here's a blank canvas, how do you best structure it for the future’.

He added: “Local government needs to keep an element of localism and what the county council cannot get away from, no matter how glossy their report is, what promises they make to certain people, is that the council they're proposing is going to be the largest in England.”

He said the geographical area would be the same as Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire combined.

And he added: “Delivering service across that geography is going to be very difficult. Keeping links with local people is going to be very difficult.”

Submissions to the Government must be made by November 9, with the Government choosing its preferred option before opening a public consultation.

The proposal for the East/West option can be found here, while the NYCC proposal is online here.