North Yorkshire Council

2025/26 Community Governance Review – Terms of Reference

1. Introduction

1.1 All parts of North Yorkshire are located within one of the 729 parish areas that currently exist.

1.2 The parishes are currently represented by 572 parish/town councils or parish meetings, with a number of the parish areas being part of a grouped parish/town council, which is a single parish/town council established to govern two or more neighbouring parishes.

1.2 North Yorkshire Council (the Council) as the principal authority in the area has decided to undertake a Community Governance Review (CGR) in respect of those parishes listed at paragraph 4 below. This document sets out the terms of reference for the CGR.

2. What is a Community Governance Review (CGR)

2.1 A CGR is a process which provides an opportunity to review, create and make

changes to governance arrangements for town and parish councils and parish areas.

2.1 More specifically it provides an opportunity to put in place clearly defined boundaries, which reflect local identities and facilitate effective and convenient local government. A CGR can consider one or more of the following:

· creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes

· the naming of parishes and the style of new parishes

· the electoral arrangements for parishes including the ordinary year of election; the number of councillors to be elected; and the warding (if any) of the parish; and/or

· grouping parishes under a common parish council or de-grouping parishes.

3. Why undertake a CGR?

3.1 The Council believes that parish and town councils can play an important role in terms of community empowerment at the local level and wants to ensure that parish governance arrangements within North Yorkshire are robust, representative and enabled to meet new challenges.

3.2 This review is taking place in response to specific requests for a CGR from parishes or residents for reasons particular to their own geography and composition.

3.3 The review also recognises that a small number of parish group arrangements need reviewing to ensure that each parish area is properly represented and their geographical boundaries clear.

3.4 When carrying out a CGR the Council will look to ensure that:

· that there is clarity and transparency to the areas that parishes cover, and parish councils represent; and

· that the electoral arrangements of parishes (the warding arrangements and the allocations of councillors) are appropriate, equitable and understood by their electorate.

4. Areas To Be Reviewed

4.1 The following parish areas, which do not have a parish council, have asked the Council to review their boundaries as explained in the table below. The table also identifies the neighbouring parish areas that will be consulted and invited to make representations in relation to any changes.

	Parish	Request/Proposal	Neighbouring parishes that could be affected by these requests
1	Barden	Request to consider a merger with Appletreewick Parish	Appletreewick which has a parish council Bolton Abbey which has a parish council Burnsall parish meeting Embsay-with-Eastby which has a parish council
2	Bolton-on-Swale	Request to consider a merger with a neighbouring parish area (either Scorton or Ellerton-on-Swale).	Scorton which has a parish council Ellerton-on-Swale which has a parish council
3	Dunsforths	Request to consider a merger with a neighbouring parish area (possibly Great Ouseburn)	Aldwark Area which has a parish council Boroughbridge which has a town council Great Ouseburn which has a parish council Marton-cum-Grafton which has a parish council Myton-on-Swale parish meeting
4	Rand Grange	Request from Bedale Town Council to merge the parish meeting area (whole or in part) with Bedale	Aiskew and Leeming Bar which has a parish council Bedale which has a parish council Crakehall with Langthorne which has a parish council
5	Spennithorne	Request to consider a merger with a neighbouring parish area	Harmby which has a parish council Constable Burton and Finghall which has a parish council Middleham Town which has a parish council Thornton Steward Parish Meeting

4.2 The following parish councils or residents in their area have asked the Council to review their boundaries and governance arrangements as explained in the table below.

	Parish Council	Request/Proposal	Neighbouring parishes that could be affected by these requests
6	Kirby Hill & District Parish Council	Request to redistribute councillors in the grouped parish to reflect housing development.	Brafferton and Helperby which has a parish council Cundall with Leckby (and Norton le Clay) which has a parish council Langthorpe which has a parish council Myton-on-Swale which has a parish council
7	Lillings Ambo Parish Council	Request to consider a merger with a neighbouring parish area	Sheriff Hutton which has a parish council Flaxton which has a parish council Foston with Thornton le Clay which has a parish council
8	Newall with Clifton Parish Council	Request to dissolve the parish council or merge with a neighbouring parish area	Lower Washburn which has a parish council Mid Wharfedale which has a parish council Washburn which has a parish council
9	Thorpe Willoughby Parish Council	Request to alter the boundaries across the neighbouring parishes of Hambleton and Gateforth	Hambleton which has a parish council Gateforth which has a parish council Brayton which has a parish council Selby which has a town council
10	Welburn Parish Council	Request to dissolve the parish council or merge with another parish area	Bulmer which has a parish council Henderskelfe parish meeting Westow which has a parish council Whitwell on the Hill and Crambe which has a parish council
11	West Witton Parish Council	Request to consider merger with a neighbouring parish area	Burton cum Walden which has a parish council Carperby cum Thoresby which has a parish council Melmerby parish meeting Redmire which has a parish council Wensley parish meeting

4.3 The following Parish Councils have requested that the Parish Council be dissolved, and a Parish Meeting be put in its place. In addition to consulting on this request it is proposed that a merger with a neighbouring parish also be consulted upon and considered.

Parish Council

Request/Proposal

Neighbouring parishes that could be affected by these requests if merging of parish areas considered as an alternative option

Potto Parish Council

Request to change to a parish meeting

Wholrton which has a parish council

Rudby which has a parish council

Faceby Parish Meeting

Sexhow Parish Meeting

4.4 The following grouped parish councils are not currently represented in each parish area and as such a review is recommended:

	Grouped Parish	Proposal	Parish areas affected
13	Constable Burton and Finghall Parish Council	Review the grouped arrangements so that each grouped parish has at least one allocated seat.	Barden Constable Burton East Hauxwell Akebar
14	Hudswell and District Parish Council	Review the grouped arrangements so that each grouped parish has at least one allocated seat	Downholme Stainton Walburn
15	Kirklington with Sutton Howgrave	Review the grouped arrangements so that each grouped parish has at least one allocated seat	Howgrave Kirklington cum Upsland Sutton Howgrave

4.5 The following parishes have internal ward boundaries which would require clarification and would therefore benefit from a review:

Parish Council

Proposal

Parish areas affected

Staintondale Parish Council

Clarify and amend the ward boundary line between Staintondale ward, and Ravenscar ward.

Staintondale

Ravenscar

4.6 The following parish councils have requested a review with a view to reducing their council size to enable them to be quorate:

Parish Council

Proposal

Parish areas affected

Sherburn Parish Council

Only 6 of the 11 seats filled. Requesting a reduction in numbers from 11 to 9 to enable a quoracy to be achieved more frequently as meetings are often cancelled due to the parish not being quorate and have struggled to recruit members.

Foxholes with Butterwick which has a parish council

Ganton which has a parish council

Heslerton which has a parish council

Luttons which has a parish council

Weaverthorpe which has a parish council

4.7 The CGR will not automatically mean there will be changes but it will examine whether there is a case for change. Those neighbouring parishes that could be affected by the above requests and proposals will be included in the consultation exercise which is explained later in these terms of reference.

5. Who will undertake the CGR

5.1 As the relevant principal authority, the Council is responsible for conducting any CGR within its electoral area.

5.2 The Council will oversee the review and produce draft and final recommendations. In coming to its recommendations, the Council will need to take account of the views of local people. A full consultation process will form part of the CGR to ensure that the views of local people are considered. Full Council will approve the final recommendations before a Re-organisation Order is made.

6. Legislation and Guidance

6.1 In undertaking the CGR, the Council will adhere to Part 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (2007 Act) and the relevant parts of the Local Government Act 1972.

6.2 The Department of Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Boundary Commission for England has issued Guidance on Community Governance Reviews in accordance with section 100(4) of the 2007 Act in March 2010, and the Council will have regard to the Guidance.

7. The Council’s Approach to this CGR

7.1 The 2007 Act requires Council when undertaking a CGR to ensure that community governance arrangements within the area under review are:

· reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area; and

· effective and convenient.

7.2 In doing so, the CGR is required to take into account the:

· impact of community governance arrangements on community cohesion; and

· size, population and boundaries or a local community or parish.

8. Timetable for the CGR

8.1 A timetable for the review is appended at Appendix 2.

8.2 Any Re-organisation Order made following a CGR should, for administrative and financial reasons take effect on 1 April 2027 being the start of the financial year following the making of an Order.

8.3 Electoral arrangements will come into force at the first elections in May 2027.

9. Existing Parish Governance Arrangements

9.1 As well as electorate information, Annex B includes information regarding the following:

• Type of governance, e.g. parish/town council, grouped parish or parish meeting,

• Current number of parish councillors

• Ratio of current councillors to electorate,

• Current Parliamentary Constituency.

• Parish precepts (the amount that each parish requests to be raised from council tax)

9.2 When the Council comes to consider electoral arrangements for the parish councils in its area, it is required to consider any change in the number or distribution of electors which is likely to occur in the period of five years beginning with the day when the CGR starts. Electorate forecasts have been prepared using the methodology endorsed by the Local Government Boundary Commission. Forecast information is also included in Annex B

9.3 The Council will produce maps and data sets to provide further statistical information on these matters and these will be published as they are prepared.

10. Consultation

10.1 An initial consultation will take place between 15 September to 8 December 2025, inviting local people and stakeholders to give their views on community governance arrangements in their local area.

10.2 The initial consultation results will then be collated and weighed against the statutory criteria and used to form the draft recommendations that follow for further consultation.

10.3 All initial representations must be made by 8 December 2025

10.4 Representations received will be published, as will the reasons for accepting or rejecting any such representations.

10.5 Consultation on the draft recommendations is planned to take place between 19 March and 11 June 2026.

10.6 The Council will publicise the review by displaying a notice at the Council Offices and on the Council’s website. The Council will also write to all parish councils, registered electors, the Yorkshire Association of Local Councils, and the MP’s covering the area.

10.7 Information about each stage of the review will be published on the Council’s website with key documents available at Council offices.

11. Representations

11.1 The Council welcomes representations during the specified consultation stages as set out in the timetable from any person or body who may wish to comment or make proposals on any aspect of the matters included in the CGR.

11.2 Representations may be made in the following ways:

· By Completing the Survey Form

· E mail to CGR@northyorks.gov.uk

· By post to Legal and Democratic Services, County Hall, Northallerton, DL7 8AD