Appendix 2 – Draft Recommendations for Bolton-on-Swale Parish Meeting
Contents
1.0 Current governance arrangements and history of the area
Current governance arrangements
2.0 Assessment of consultation responses for Bolton-on-Swale parish Meeting
3.0 Final assessment and draft recommendations
Annex 2B – Summary of consultation responses
1.0 Current governance arrangements and history of the area
Current governance arrangements
1.1 Bolton-on-Swale is situated within the Catterick Village and Brompton-on-Swale division and is part of the Richmond and Northallerton parliamentary constituency.
1.2 Bolton-on-Swale parish currently has 48 electors and 30 properties. It does not currently claim a precept.
1.3 Bolton-on-Swale has 3 neighbouring parish areas as shown in the map below including Scorton, Ellerton-on-Swale and Catterick, all of which have Parish Councils.
1.4 Whilst the area of Bolton-on-Swale is parished it does not have a parish council and is referred to as a parish meeting. This means it does not elect Councillors or hold parish council meetings. Parish meetings must assemble annually between 1 March and 1 June and on at least one other occasionduring the year. These meetings are open to the public but only registered electors of the parish can speak and vote.
1.5 Parish meetings can raise a precept to raise monies for spending for the benefit of the parish. Bolton-on-Swale does not currently raise a precept.
History of the area
1.6 Bolton-on-Swale Parish meeting originally requested a CGR in December 2023. At that point there was no Chair and the Clerk was considering resigning. There was no interest from the village in taking up either of the positions.
1.7 The parish was claiming a small precept but with no one to convene a meeting to agree a precept for the following year none was levied, and the parish became dormant.
1.8 A conversation with the clerk of Scorton Parish Council in June 2024 discussed the opportunity of Bolton-on-Swale merging with Scorton Parish Council and that this would be discussed at a future Scorton Parish Council meeting.
1.9 Advice was sought and given by Yorkshire Local Council Association (YLCA).
1.10 After consultation with Democratic Services, it was suggested that a CGR be carried out for Bolton-on-Swale Parish Meeting. Following the Standards and Governance Committee on 20 June 2025, Full Council approved the terms of reference of the 2025/26 Community Governance Review, which included a defined list of parishes that would be reviewed on 16 July 2025.
Five year electorate forecast
1.11 The electorate and 5 year electorate forecast for Bolton-on-Swale, Scorton and Ellerton-on-Swale is as follows:
|
Parish |
Electorate (2025) |
Electorate prediction (2030)*
|
Predicted electorate increase |
|
Bolton-on-Swale |
48 |
50 |
+2 |
|
Scorton |
682 |
703 |
21 |
|
Ellerton-on-Swale |
109 |
105 |
-4 |
* based on 2024 electorate totals
2.0 Assessment of consultation responses for Bolton-on-Swale parish Meeting
2.1 The following table shows the number of households written to, with the number of consultation responses received, and response rate.
|
Households sent CGR consultation letter
|
517 |
|
Consultation responses received
|
20 |
|
Response rate
|
3.9 |
2.2 Consultation letters were sent to households in Ellerton-on-Swale, Scorton and Bolton-on-Swale as following the CGR request made by Bolton-on-Swale to merge with a neighbouring parish, these were the 3 areas under review.
2.3 A copy of the consultation survey can be found at Annex 2A. A summary of consultation responses received can be found at Annex 2B.
2.4 For the avoidance of doubt, the free text comments received through the consultation process reflect the views of the individual respondents alone. These comments do not represent the views of North Yorkshire Council and should not be construed as being endorsed by the Council.
2.5 The response rate in the table above was calculated by comparing the number of consultation responses with the number of households directly consulted by means of a letter sent to all properties in the areas under review. The total number of responses for the Bolton-on-Swale CGR was 20.
2.6 Of the 20 respondents, 14 reported that they lived in a neighbouring parish and 3 lived in Bolton-on-Swale, a further 3 did not state. No response was received from the Division Member. Bolton-on-Swale parish meeting is not functioning so could not provide a response.
2.7 18 respondents answered the question “There has been a request to merge Bolton-on-Swale parish meeting with a neighbouring parish. What is your opinion?”
Of the 18, 94% (17) stated they supported the idea with 1 being unsure.
2.8 The majority of respondents chose to merge with Scorton, as detailed in the table below.
2.9
|
Option
|
Number |
Percentage |
|
Merge with Scorton which has a parish council |
11 |
69% |
|
Merge with Ellerton-on-Swale which has a parish council |
5 |
31% |
|
Total
|
16 |
100% |
2.10 Scorton Parish Council provided a response confirming their Councillors supported a merge with Bolton-on-Swale but stated they would like to retain the name of the parish council as Scorton Parish Council.
2.11 No response was received from the Divisional Representative.
2.12 Annex 2B summarises the reasons for merging with Scorton Parish Council. Most felt the villages were already closely connected and this would be the most sensible outcome and was a practical solution.
2.13 When asked whether the proposed model would meet the needs of its community, the majority agreed, as detailed in the table below.
|
Option
|
Number |
Percentage |
|
Yes, definitely
|
13 |
72% |
|
Yes, somewhat
|
4 |
22% |
|
I am unsure
|
1 |
6% |
|
Total
|
18 |
100% |
2.14 17 of the 18 respondents were definitely or somewhat in agreement that the proposed model would meet the needs of its community, including the 3 responses from Bolton-on-Swale residents.
3.0 Final assessment and draft recommendations
3.1 The majority of responses (69%) indicated support for Bolton-on-Swale to merge with Scorton. It is therefore proposed to merge the parish of Bolton-on-Swale with Scorton to form a single Parish Council.
3.2 The parish would be known as the parish of Scorton.
3.3 A map of the recommended parish area is shown below:
3.4 A list of recommendations can be viewed below:
Recommendation 1 –the existing parish of Bolton-on-Swale shall be amalgamated with the parish of Scorton
Recommendation 2 – that the new parish boundary is as detailed in the attached map
Recommendation 3 - the new parish shall be known as Scorton
Recommendation 4 - there shall be a parish council for the parish of
Scorton
Recommendation 5 - the parish council shall be named Scorton Parish Council
Recommendation 6 - that 7 Councillors are elected to Scorton Parish Council
Recommendation 7 - that the above take effect for administration purposes on 1 April 2027 with elections to the new Parish Council to held on 6 May 2027 for a term of 4 years. Changes to the electoral register required for the above take effect on the revised publication ahead of that election (planned for December 2026).
3.5 The recommendations detailed above will form the basis of the Stage 2 consultation which will commence on 19 March 2026.