NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
20 May 2026
Response to a Notice of Motion on ‘Supporting Area Committee decision making’ referred at the full Council meeting on 12 November 2025
Report of the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee
|
1.0
|
PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
|
|
1.1 |
To provide Council with a summary of the deliberations and recommendations of the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee concerning the Notice of Motion referred to the committee at the meeting of full Council on 12 November 2025.
|
2.0 Background
2.1 At Full Council on 12 November 2025, the Chairman referred a Notice of Motion concerning support for Area Committee decision making to the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny committee, with the intention of it being considered and recommendations brought back to this meeting of full Council.
2.2 The report that went to meeting of the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 16 March 2026 can be accessed via the following link (Agenda Item 5):
2.3 The Council’s Constitution (Council Procedure Rules, section 11, page 226) states:
h) If a motion is referred to the Executive or one committee only, the Executive or that committee shall debate the motion and report to the relevant decision-making body upon that motion together with its recommendation. If a motion is referred to more than one committee, the Executive shall report to the relevant decision-making body upon that motion together with its recommendations. The report of the Executive or any committee to which a motion has been referred shall contain a statement of that motion.
(i) When the Executive or a committee reports back on a motion with its recommendations, the Executive’s or committee’s recommendations become the substantive motion before the relevant decision-making body for voting upon. One Member may speak for 3 minutes to introduce the findings and recommendation of the Executive or committee and the mover or seconder of the original motion may speak for 3 minutes to either oppose or agree the recommendation. There will be no moving of amendments in relation to, questions upon or any other discussion of or questions on the motion prior to the vote upon it.
3.0 Supporting Area Committee Decision Making
3.1 TheNotice of Motion as proposed by Councillor Peter Lacey (and seconded by Councillor Kirsty Poskitt) stated:
‘Council acknowledges the commitment made in advance of assuming Unitary status to being the most local large unitary Authority. Council further recognises the means by which such localism is being pursued including double devolution and the development of community partnerships. However, in a recent officer review of delegated powers by Area Committees a number of these powers were not being regularly exercised. Council recognises that it is for Area Committees to determine their own work programme but equally that delegated powers should and could be better facilitated and enabled by changes in the way that Council business is run.’
3.2 The Motion asked Council to commit to:
i. Ensuring that the data and intelligence necessary for Area Committees to exercise their powers is aligned to the new Divisions expected to be finalised in January 2027 and therefore no longer reflects former District and Borough boundaries wherever possible and by September 2026 at the latest.
ii. Putting in a place a robust process to enable Area Committees to exercise delegated power 20 to “make recommendations to the Corporate Director of Community Development on the expenditure of Community Infrastructure Levy and appropriate section 106 expenditure”.
iii. Developing a list of services likely to be more effectively delivered by Town and Parish Councils and/or in partnership with local community and voluntary groups and that, subject to business cases, there would be a presumption for double devolution for these services.
iv. Ensuring that once County-wide policies are agreed, and where there is a commitment to locally sensitive implementation, that Area Committees are provided with the necessary officer support to develop and sign off plans, for example in the cases of Town Investment Plans or Local Parking Plans, consistent with delegated powers 17-19, 21 & 22 concerned local economic development.
v. Undertaking the equivalent of a post implementation review of activities designed to promote localism that identifies the most up to date best practice in local governance arrangements in similar large Unitary Authorities and learn from this by bringing a report and recommendations back to the appropriate decision-making body including any recommendations on the extent, effectiveness and realisation of delegated powers in the NYC Constitution.
3.3 At their meeting the Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered officer feedback on the proposals above included in their committee report (see link above) and discussed the associated issues and challenges e.g.:
· The new division boundaries and reports produced based on those new boundaries would not align to the area committees’ boundaries.
· Who would be better placed to comment on the use of CIL and 106 monies i.e. Parish Councils or Area Committees.
3.4 Councillor Peter Lacey (proposer of the Motion) was invited to attend the meeting to present his views on the officer feedback. He acknowledged that good progress had been made in two of the areas and proposed the following potential actions in relation to the others i.e. that:
· Data and intelligence be provided regularly to assist area committees in exercising their powers in terms of shaping economic development or local health and care services etc.
· Action be taken to engage with area committees on CIL monies available to them or to their area, where geographically appropriate.
· A list of services and double devolution opportunities be provided to Town and Parish Councils, identifying their potential in terms of impact and support.
·
Some reflection and learning be undertaken, both internally and
externally, to understand how the Council is doing in in terms of
neighbourhood development and community engagement.
3.5 It was concluded that anything arising from the issues raised within the Notice of Motion would require changes to the Terms of Reference for the Area Committees and so a change to the Constitution. As such, it was determined that the Motion would best be considered by the cross-party Member Working Group on the Constitution. The Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted unanimously in favour of recommending that full Council refer the Notice of Motion to the Member Working Group on the Constitution for their consideration.
4.0 IMPLICATIONS
4.1 There are no financial, legal, climate change or equalities implications associated with the recommendations in this report.
|
5.0
5.1
|
RECOMMENDATION
The Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommends that the Notice of Motion concerning support for Area Committee decision making be referred to the Member Working Group on the Constitution for their consideration.
|
Barry Khan
Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services)
County Hall, Northallerton
12 May 2026
Report Author:
Melanie Carr, Senior Scrutiny Officer Melanie.carr1@northyorks.gov.uk
Background documents:
Constitution of North Yorkshire Council - (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Constitution, 19/03/2026 00:00
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.