An opinion piece by Joyce Stangoe – the views expressed are those of the author.
The biggest change to local government in North Yorkshire since 1974 is about to take place. The elections on the 5th of May 2022 has selected the councillors who will serve on the new North Yorkshire Unitary council once it comes into full effect from April 2023.
This single council will replace the present eight district, borough and county councils. The NYCC document “A Unitary Council for North Yorkshire: The case for change – Final Business Case December 2020” promised that:
We are committed to seizing the significant opportunities available to us through a single unitary authority, and we will deliver a transformative agenda for the benefit of our local people, infrastructure, and economy.
After watching the NYCC/SBC Virtual Roadshow, I have to ask if they are really seizing the opportunity, or have they simply missed the boat? The new authority intends to establish six Area Committees based on parliamentary constituencies. This means that Whitby will stay in the same Area Committee as Scarborough, whilst Filey and Hunmanby will come under the Thirsk & Ryedale Area Committee. The Whitby area will have 4 councillors and Scarborough will have 11 councillors.
These Area Committees will have devolved responsibility from the Unitary council for the discharge of statutory functions and services at the local level, including planning, licensing, public rights of way, highways, and potentially other areas. Will this really “deliver a transformative agenda for the benefit of our local people, infrastructure and economy”?
As their submission to the government claimed so proudly, North Yorkshire is unique in having two National Parks and three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ninety eight percent of the county is either sparsely (13%) or super-sparsely (85%) populated with just over a third of the population living in these areas.
It is generally more expensive to deliver services to sparsely and super-sparsely populated rural communities. Their residents often experience physical and digital isolation, with difficulty in accessing services, jobs, transport links and education. Whitby is one of only 6 towns in England classed as an urban settlement set in a sparsely-populated rural area.
The NYCC Locality Profiles 2015-16 identified that those communities living within or on the fringes of the National Parks, such as Whitby, share a distinctive demographic profile plus significant geographic and environmental constraints. The needs of such communities differ substantially from those living in less isolated towns and villages with much easier access to the A1, A19, A64 corridors / main rail routes – or from the Selby area with its good transport links and proximity to the City of York.
Do the proposed Area Constituency Committees really offer the best option? Has the new Unitary considered creating Area Committees that focus on the National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, together with their service towns? Such a structure would highlight and support the new Authority’s environmental credentials and their ambition to become the first carbon-negative region.
The existing National Park Authorities have well-established environmental protection and improvement programmes; significant planning expertise; and a good network of parish forums and local contacts. Whitby is one of the service towns serving the North York Moors National Park and it is surrounded by the National Park.
Would it not make more sense for Whitby to be included in a more rural Area Committee, rather than one serving a much larger town like Scarborough, simply because it has shared the same MP for the last 30 years? Parliamentary boundaries can and do change. They are reviewed every five years.
Surely the new Area Committees should group together those communities with common geographic and demographic characteristics, which have a major effect on the local community’s access to the services provided by the Unitary Authority such as education, transport, health, and social care, etc. These services are far more relevant to residents’ daily lives than whether or not they happen to share the same MP.
The 2023 local government re-organisation could offer significant opportunities, but the hoped-for transformation will not happen if Whitby & District is still subordinate to Scarborough, as it was before!
