1.0 Current governance arrangements and history of the area

Current governance arrangements

1.1 Staintondale Parish is situated within the Esk Valley and Coast division and is part of the Scarborough and Whitby parliamentary constituency. The parish has a council with a warding arrangement as follows:

Staintondale Parish Council	Electors (2025)	Councillors
Ravenscar Ward	139	4
Staintondale Ward	106	3
TOTALS	245	7

History of the area

1.2 Since 2019 some electors, with the support of the then Borough Ward councillor and the parish clerk, have disputed the location of the boundary line between Ravenscar Ward and Staintondale Ward of the council.

1.3 Polling district reviews dating back to 2007 position the boundary line as per the map above.

1.4 A legal order cited as ‘The North Yorkshire (Staintondale Parish Council) Order, 1950’ creating the Parish Council arrangements describes the position of the boundary line as follows:

The parish shall be divided into two wards, the portion to the north of a line commending at the western boundary of the Parish to the north of Moorland House and passing in an easterly direction to Bloody Beck, along the said Beck and passing to the south of Bell Hill Farm, from there in an easterly direction passing to the north of Grange Farm to the War Dike, then following the line of the said Dike, passing the south of Ashyard Farm, to the sea, to be known as the Ravenscar Ward and the portion to the south of such line to be known as the Staintondale ward’.

This differs from the position of the current line, and would be as follows on a map:

1.5 Those electors disputing the boundary line would like to see it reverted back to that as stated in the 1950 order, and there is no evidence explaining how or why that change occurred between 1950 and 2007.

1.6 If the 1950 boundary line were to be reinstated the impact of the change is low affecting only 4 properties and now 11 electors who are currently in Ravenscar ward, becoming part of the Staintondale ward.

1.7 It was agreed that a review of this boundary line was needed to resolve the ongoing dispute and both boundaries were presented in the first stage of consultation.

Five year electorate forecast

1.8 The 2030 electorate forecast for all parishes in the group is expected to be 256 (calculated using 2024 electorate) from 245, which is not a large increase, as the area is very rural.

2.0 Assessment of consultation responses

2.1 The following table shows the number of households written to, with the number of consultation responses received, and a response rate:

Households sent CGR consultation letter	139
Consultation responses received	37
Response rate	26.6 %

2.2 Consultation letters were sent to all households in Staintondale parish, though the consultation survey was open for anyone to respond.

2.3 A copy of the consultation survey can be found at Annex 17A. A summary of consultation responses received can be found at Annex 17B.

2.4 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 was 37, demonstrating a relatively high level of interest in the position of the boundary line.

2.5 Of the 37 respondents, 27 (75%) reported that they live in Staintondale Parish, 6 (16.7 %) live in a neighbouring parish area (though 2 of those stated they live in Ravenscar – which is a ward of Staintondale parish), 6 (16.7 %) work within or own a business within Staintondale.

2.6 The majority of respondents chose to return the boundary line to the position as described in the 1950 legal order, as detailed in the table below:

Option	Number	Percentage
Return the boundary line to that described in the 1950 legal order	31	86.1 %
Leave the boundary line in the current position	4	11.1 %
I don’t know	1	2.8 %
Total	37	100%

2.7 Reasons given in support or returning the boundary line to the 1950’s position include maintaining historical and clearly identifiable lines which follow geographical features. Many referred to the potential inadvertent change which has no evidence or reason for that change.

2.8 Those in favour of retaining the line where it is now (11.1 %) gave no explanation or justification as to why.

3.0 Final assessment and draft recommendations

3.1 The majority of responses (86.1 %) indicated support for returning the boundary line to that as described in the 1950 legal order, with reasons. It is therefore proposed to reinstate the previous boundary line.

3.2 The parish council name and names of wards are to remain unchanged, other than the exact location of the ward line affecting only 11 electors, and the arrangements for the parish council would be as follows (albeit very minor changes to the current):

Staintondale Parish Council	Electors ( 2025)	Councillors
Ravenscar Ward	130	4
Staintondale Ward	115	3
TOTALS	245	7

3.3 A map of the recommendation is shown below:

A map of a river AI-generated content may be incorrect.

3.4 A list of recommendations can be viewed below:

Recommendation 1 – The area coloured and designated by the letter “A” and shaded in blue on the map shall cease to be part of the parish of Staintondale Parish – Ravenscar ward, and shall become part of the parish of Staintondale – Staintondale ward of that parish, using the 1950 legal which created the parish council as the basis for dividing the parish into 2 wards described as:

‘That Staintondale Parish be divided into 2 wards (as is currently), Ravenscar ward and Staintondale Ward. The portion to the north of a line commending at the western boundary of the Parish to the north of Moorland House and passing in an easterly direction to Bloody Beck, along the said Beck and passing to the south of Bell Hill Farm, from there in an easterly direction passing to the north of Grange Farm to the War Dike, then following the line of the said Dike, passing the south of Ashyard Farm, to the sea, to be known as the Ravenscar Ward and the portion to the south of such line to be known as the Staintondale ward’.

Recommendation 3 – That the parish council size remains as 7 (as is currently)

Recommendation 4 – and the representation for Ravenscar Ward will be 4, and the representation for Staintondale Ward will be 3 (as is currently)

Recommendation 5 –Changes take effect administratively on 01 April 2027 with elections to the new arrangements at the next scheduled elections in May 2027, and that 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 It is concluded, that with 2 options being consulted on, and with good support for the above recommendations, this being a minor adjustment to a ward boundary line, with no changes to names or council size, that there is no requirement for a second stage of consultation.

Annex 17A – Consultation survey

Annex 17B – Summary of consultation responses