North Yorkshire Council
Executive
17 June 2025
Approval in Principle of the
Transfer to Malton Town Council of the Market Place Public
Conveniences Malton under Double Devolution
Report of the
Assistant Chief Executive Local
Engagement
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1.0
PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1
To note the double devolution
proposal for the transfer of the Market Place Public Conveniences
at Malton together with the one-off grant of £57,000 to
Malton Town Council to support the Town Council’s ongoing
operation of the Facilities and, subject to an in principle
decision from the Corporate Director of Resources and negotiation
of suitable heads of terms for the asset transfer and subsidy
control compliance, to agree in principle to the transfer and
grant.
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2.0
BACKGROUND
2.1
The former North Yorkshire County
Council’s submission to government for the establishment of a
unitary council set out a commitment to pilot double devolution and
provide opportunities for town and parish councils and community
groups that would like to manage services and assets on behalf of
the new council. It stated that all instances of double
devolution would need to have a solid business case and delivery
plan and be cost neutral to the new council. It also stated
that double devolution would be piloted in a small number of areas,
and that it would be very unlikely that any transfer would take
place before April 2024.
2.2 An
invitation was sent to all town and parish councils inviting them
to submit expressions of interest if they would like to participate
in the piloting of double devolution. As a result, twelve
expressions of interest were submitted by town and parish councils
for assessment, varying in size and scope.
2.3 Three
expressions of interest did not meet some of the assessment
criteria and therefore did not proceed to full business case and
one Expression of Interest did not proceed. The following were
recommended to move forward to full business case:
1.
Malton – Management of the Malton Market Place
public toilet facilities, including cleaning and
maintenance.
2.
Northallerton and
Thirsk – Management
of the markets in the towns of Northallerton and Thirsk, as a
collaborative venture between two Town Councils.
3.
Filey – Management of the public benches within
the town of Filey.
4.
Knaresborough
– Management of the markets
and the storage facility and assets associated with managing the
market (i.e. road closure signs/tables, etc).
5.
Skipton – Management of Skipton Town Hall Car Park
toilet block, the Ginnel Woods and the Canal Basin.
6.
Whitby – Provision and management of parks and
grounds maintenance and floral displays excluding highways verges
including Pannett Park, the plant and equipment, including depot
space associated with these services.
2.4 Two
Expressions of Interest, submitted by Ripon Town Council and Selby
Town Council; were both ambitious and multi-faceted, involving a
number of service areas. The evaluation criteria did not facilitate
the management of a wide range of services within its scoring
mechanisms. It was therefore agreed that individual project
teams were set up to work with Ripon City Council and Selby Town
Council to bring forward double devolution proposals to be
considered by the Executive. The two expressions of interest
were:
·
Selby – Management of Play areas, flower beds,
former Walkers Bingo Hall, any green space, Selby Park, Market
Place, Portholme Road Playing field, car parks and Cuncliffe and
Coultish community centres.
·
Ripon – Management of Ripon Town Hall, Market
Place and Car Park, public toilets within the city and
Wakeman’s House (listed building).
2.5 It was
agreed that after the development of the Full Business Case that
the relevant town or parish council will be asked whether it wishes
to proceed with the proposed transfer. If the town or parish
council wished to proceed then the Executive will make the final
decision on the proposal, following consultation with the relevant
Area Committee.
3.0 TRANSFER
OF THE MARKET PLACE PUBLIC CONVENIENCES MALTON
3.1 The
Expression of Interest submitted by Malton Town Council
(‘MTC’) for the management of the Malton Market Place
public toilet facilities (‘the Facilities’), including
cleaning and maintenance, has been progressed as a Business Case
for agreement.
3.2 As
required by the Double Devolution process approval is required by
the Executive after consideration by the Area Committee. The
proposal will be considered by the Thirsk and Malton Area Committee
on 13 June 2025, any comments will be reported to the Executive at
the following meeting.
3.3
In summary the
proposal is that MTC take on the responsibility of operating and
maintaining the Facilities, from North Yorkshire Council
(‘NYC’) upon receipt of a one-off grant of
£57,000. The building is leased from the Fitzwilliam Estate
on a peppercorn basis, who are supportive of the transfer which
will take the form of an assignment by NYC to MTC of its lease. By
managing the Facilities, MTC aims to provide a clean,
well-maintained, and accessible public service for residents and
visitors. The target date for the transfer (assignment) of the
lease is 1 July 2025, subject to negotiation with the landlord,
Fitzwilliam Estate.
3.4
Alongside this proposal NYC has
reviewed provision within the town as part of the plan for the
service and proposes to permanently close Wentworth Street toilets,
the site is four minutes' walk from Market Place. It is the view of
both organisations that the town is best served by a single
refurbished facility. The site will close upon successful transfer
of the site at Market Place.
4.0
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
4.1
The Full Business
case has been evaluated to determine the full costs involved and
the final decisions will be made by the Executive, following
consultation with the Thirsk and Malton Area Committee. The
proposal to transfer responsibility of Malton Market Place toilet
facilities will deliver a long-term financial saving in the region
of £15,000 per annum for North Yorkshire Council, after the
one-off grant to the Town Council. It is envisaged the
£57,000 grant to the Town Council will be met from the Rural
Prosperity Fund, subject to acceptance being approved by Executive
at their meeting of 17 June 2025. If this funding is not approved,
either the transfer would not go ahead or funding would need to be
met from Environment Directorate budgets. The grant funding is one
off and no future contribution from the Council is
required.
4.2
The proposed closure of the
Wentworth Street toilet would result in an annual reduced cost of
£13,000.
4.3
The combined annual saving of
£28,000 will reduce ongoing budget pressures that
exist
within public conveniences
budgets.
5.0 LEGAL
IMPLICATIONS
5.1 An
in-principle decision from the Corporate Director of Resources and
Heads of Terms for the asset transfer (in the form of the
assignment of NYC’s existing lease with Fitzwilliam Estate)
are under consideration with NYC Property Service and subsidy
control compliance is under consideration with the service
area. There are no contractual or TUPE implications from this
proposal. A Data Protection Initial Assessment has been
completed, see Appendix A
6.0
EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
6.1 An
equalities impact screening form has been completed and is included
in the report as Appendix B.
6.2 There
are no significant issues raised.
7.0 CLIMATE
CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
7.1 A
climate change impact assessment screening form has been completed
and is included in the report as Appendix C.
7.2 There
are no significant issues raised.
8.0 REASONS
FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 For the
reasons set out in the body of this report and in the appendices,
the recommendations set out below are proposed to the
Executive.
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9.0
RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1
It is recommended that the Executive
note the double devolution proposal for the transfer of the Market
Place Public Conveniences at Malton together with the one-off grant
of £57,000 to Malton Town Council to support the Town
Council’s ongoing operation of those facilities and, subject
to an in principle decision from the Corporate Director of
Resources and negotiation of suitable heads of terms for the asset
transfer and subsidy control compliance, to agree in principle to
the transfer and grant of the facilities to the Town Council and to
authorise the closure of the Wentworth Street public toilets
upon successful transfer of the site
at Market Place.
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Report
Author:
Rachel Joyce
– Assistant Chief Executive Local Engagement
Appendix A
–Data Protection Initial Assessment
Appendix B
– Equality Impact Assessment screening
Appendix C
– Climate Change Impact Assessment screening
Data Protection
Impact Assessment (DPIA) – Screening Questions
Overview
A
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is essential to ensure
that new systems and processes are compliant with Data Protection
Legislation (GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). A DPIA is
mandatory when introducing new technology or where the processing
operation is “likely to result in a high risk to the rights
and freedoms of natural persons”. The risk is considered high
when processing personal information about a living person. Failure
to carry out a DPIA, or failure to carry one out correctly when the
risk is high, may result in a large fine.
What
is Personal Data?
“personal data’ shall mean any information
relating to an identified or identifiable natural person
(‘data subject’); an identifiable person is one who can
be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference
to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to
his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social
identity.”
It may be that a single piece of information can
identify an individual, or it may be that it requires a combination
of information to identify them. The following information would be
considered personal data:
·
Name
·
Address
·
Date of birth
·
Email address (personal and
work)
·
NI number
·
Bank details
Personal data also extends to items such as a
photo, posts on social media or an IP address.
What
is Special Category Data?
“personal data revealing
racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or
philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, and data concerning
health or sex life.”
The following information would be considered
special category data:
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Political opinions
- Religious or philosophical beliefs
- Trade union membership
- Genetic data
- Biometric data*
- Data
concerning health
- Data
concerning a person’s sex life
- Data
concerning a person’s sexual orientation
*Biometric Data: physical or physiological
identification techniques – e.g. fingerprint verification,
facial/voice recognition, keystroke/handwriting analysis, gait and
gaze analysis.
In
order to determine whether a DPIA is necessary, insert the required
information into the table below and complete the
checklist.
If
the answer is YES to any of the screening questions in the
checklist then a DPIA must be carried out.
Data Protection
Impact Assessment (DPIA) – Screening Questions
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Directorate / Service
Area
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Environment
– Waste and Street Scene
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Overview of
Project/Process
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To devolve
responsibility for the operation of the Malton Market Place Public
Conveniences. They will refurbish the block upon receipt of a
£57,000 grant from NYC. Adjacent to this proposal we will
look to close Wentworth Street toilets in the town [4mins walk
away]
No publically identifiable
information will be collected.
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Project/Process Title
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Malton Double
Devolution – Public Conveniences
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Screening Questions
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Yes
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No
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Justification for
Answer
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Will your project/app/system
involve processing of information about individuals which includes
special category or criminal conviction data? Please note this does
include ‘anonymous’ data within these categories if
unique identifiers such as initials or reference numbers are also
processed.
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If you are processing any of
the below types of personal data your answer should be
YES:
·
Racial or ethnic
origin
·
Political
opinions
·
Religious or
philosophical beliefs
·
Trade union
membership
·
Genetic
data
·
Biometric
data
·
Data concerning
health
·
Data concerning
a person’s sex life
·
Data concerning
a person’s sexual orientation
Criminal conviction
data
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☐
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☒
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No customer usage data is
captured/processed now or intends to be.
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Will you be collecting new
personal information about individuals, or information which, if
breached could have a significant impact on an
individual?
Examples where the answer would be
YES:
·
This a new system/process
processing personal data that has not been previously
collected
·
This is an
existing system/process processing personal data but additional
data must be collected due to a change in scope of the
system/process
Data which has routinely been
collected is being collected in a new way, this data is very
sensitive and would cause distress to the data subject if it was
breached
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☐
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☒
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Will information about
individuals be disclosed or shared with organisations or people who
have not previously had routine access to the
information?
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
·
There is a
requirement to share information with an external 3rd party who has
not previously had access to the data. This would also result in
the need for a Data Sharing Agreement (DSA).
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Are you going to use
information you already hold about individuals for a purpose it is
not currently used for?
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
Matching information from different
systems/data sources, where purpose/lawful basis of original data
collection may differ
·
Details of the
Information Asset in question will be contained within NYC’s
Information Asset Register (IAR) and the purpose for processing,
along with the legal basis for processing will be recorded. The way
information will be used in this new system/process must match the
existing purpose/legal basis, otherwise a DPIA is
required
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☐
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☒
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Does the project involve using
technology which might be perceived as privacy intrusive or
monitoring any publicly accessible areas? For example, CCTV, facial
recognition, use of biometrics* such as thumb prints, Vehicle
number plate recognition or location tracking.
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☐
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☒
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Does any phase of
project/system/ app use automated decision making based on
information provided by the individual or received from a
3rd party? Automated individual
decision-making is a decision made by automated means without any
human involvement (e.g. online credit checks).
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
A new piece of software is
being implemented which checks an applicant’s geographical
location, age and household income and automatically offers a free
service to eligible applicants when certain conditions are
met
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☒
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Will the project include
marketing or contacting individuals which may be considered
intrusive?
By phone, by email or by post,
where they have not be informed/are not expecting that this contact
will take place.
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
·
I have access to
a list of email addresses which were collected for the purpose of
setting people up as users of their local library. I’d like
to send them a notice about a new transport services available that
operate near the library.
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Will the project include data
matching from different sources or profiling?
Combining,
comparing or matching personal data obtained from multiple
sources.
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
·
Matching data
from two/three different children’s systems to understand
which children may be eligible to join a new learning
programme.
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☐
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☒
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Will you be conducting large
scale processing, this includes numbers, duration and geographical
spread?
Example of where the answer would be
YES:
·
Processing data
related to all/most children who reside in North
Yorkshire
·
Tracking
all/most individuals using public transport systems in North
Yorkshire
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☐
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☒
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·
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If you have
answered YES to any of the questions above then a full DPIA
must be carried out.
If you have
answered NO to ALL of the above screening questions
then a DPIA is not necessary. Please complete the declaration below
and email a copy to the Data Governance Team, email:
datagovernance@northyorks.gov.uk.
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Date of Assessment
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29/5/25
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Project Sponsor Name
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Harry J Briggs
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Project Sponsor Signature
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Note: If the scope
of work changes in any way then the pre-assessment MUST be
repeated.
