NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

20 MAY 2026

STATEMENT OF THE LEADER

An uncertain world impacting on North Yorkshire

We will all have been following events in the Middle East and their impact on the wider world. These impacts are multiple in nature; they impact the world economy and the stability of the world, but they also have serious impacts for us in North Yorkshire, both the Council and our residents. Everybody is seeing higher prices, not least on garage forecourts which is impacting on the cost of living for of our residents and adversely affecting the cost-of-service delivery and operations in general within the Council, especially any service that involves travel by road, and also road repairs where a key cost is bitumen. Inflation in construction costs is also rising sharply.

In terms of residents, we are currently in the process of developing North Yorkshire’s approach to the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a new three-year scheme funded by government to help low-income households manage unexpected financial shocks and strengthen financial resilience.  We will continue to work with a broad range of partners to develop the scheme and make this support as accessible as possible to people in our communities. In the interim period, support is available for oil heating costs, and those in financial crisis via our North Yorkshire Local Assistance Fund (NYLAF), and Housing Payment scheme; to ensure that those who are struggling to afford the significant increases in living costs have somewhere to turn.

The Council will also continue to promote the various support schemes and organisations in North Yorkshire who may be able to help or advise our residents who are worried about the cost of living or struggling to pay for essentials, via our on-going Cost of Living campaign.

Undoubtedly the Council’s finances will be impacted. Many of our operations lean heavily on oil and diesel related costs. Again, we are monitoring the situation, but it won’t be until the Q1 outturn that we will get more of a sense of the impact across the Council.

Community cohesion

One of the worse consequences that we see amongst all tensions around the world is the rise in antisemitism and other forms of racial discrimination in the country. The worst cases of antisemitism have been in London and in other parts of the country, but we should not be complacent about the impacts on our own residents of Jewish faith. I can understand how there will be many who are fearful about the current situation, and it behoves the rest of us to come together and to support everybody regardless of their faith and to reject racism and the marginalisation of people wherever we see it.

Council officers continue to work in partnership with the police and community organisations to monitor for any issues and provide meaningful community engagement where needed. Operation Community is our key joint community engagement programme with North Yorkshire Police, and this allows us to have regular joint discussions with North Yorkshire Police operationally and strategically, particularly if we need to stand up any response.  Members of our Community Safety Team are co-located within North Yorkshire Police’s Hate Crime Team and police staff are also co-located within the Community Safety Hubs, ensuring intelligence, planning and responses are coordinated and effective.

Disagreements with the Mayoral Combined Authority

Both North Yorkshire Council and the York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority are relatively new institutions, and we continue to mould a productive relationship between us. However, there are some ups and downs to that relationship. We currently have a disagreement between us in terms of the amounts of government funding for highways maintenance to be passported through to ourselves as a Council and City of York Council.

The Mayoral Combined Authority is charged with allocating funding from Government over a four-year period, across what we commonly refer to as road maintenance, and then separately other improvement works on the roads. Over this four-year period, the Mayor has chosen to move away from the allocations outlined by the Department of Transport to move funding away from road maintenance towards road improvement works, and also to change the allocation so that more funding is moved away from North Yorkshire, to City of York Council. 

As a consequence of this, over this four-year period, North Yorkshire Council faces a reduction of £20.5 million pounds from the allocation that it would have expected to receive had the Mayor passported the money through using the Department of Transport’s standard formulae.  As part of this approach, the Mayor has established his own pot-hole fund out of these maintenance allocations, which could also be skewed away from North Yorkshire and towards York.

There has been no evidence provided to sustain this change in funding allocation. You will understand that this is an issue that we are concerned about, including concerns around the process and engagement of the North Yorkshire Council in the decision. We are robustly taking the issue up with the Mayor and his office and we hope that he will reflect on the situation and understand the high level of importance that needs to be placed in maintaining the extensive road network in North Yorkshire that our residents and businesses rely on.

English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026

Linked to our work with the Mayoral Combined Authority, the previous English Devolution Bill has now received Royal Assent and has become the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.  This comes after extensive discussions between the House of Commons and the House of Lords regarding amendments to the Bill.  One amendment that will be included in the new Act, pertinent to North Yorkshire, is the inclusion of rurality in the list of mayoral competencies.

I know work is already underway with the Combined Authority to ensure rural issues are at the heart of the Mayoral Combined Authorities strategic focus, but officers will be working through the new Act and accompanying guidance to better understand the implications and what it means for North Yorkshire.

COUNCILLOR CARL LES