NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
20 May 2026
Appointments to Committees According to Political Proportionality
Report of Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To make recommendations for changes to the allocation of seats on and appointments to committees, subject to proportional representation due to recent political changes.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 The changes to the political make-up of the Council that have occurred since the last Full Council Meeting on 18 March 2026, due to changes of political group/party, are as follows:
· Councillor Tim Grogan formally moved from the Conservative and Independent Group on 11 May 2026 to Reform UK.
2.2 The number of Councillors by political group and party is now as shown below:
|
Political Group/Party |
Councillors as of 18 March 2026 |
Current Position |
Overall Change |
|
Conservatives and Independents |
45 |
44 |
Loss of 1 |
|
Liberal Democrat and Liberals |
14 |
14 |
No Change |
|
Labour |
10 |
10 |
No Change |
|
NY Independents |
7 |
7 |
No Change |
|
Green and Independents |
8 |
8 |
No Change |
|
Independent (unaffiliated) |
2 |
2 |
No Change |
|
Reform UK |
4 |
5 |
Gain of 1 |
|
TOTAL |
90 |
90 |
|
2.3 Due to the above changes and as requested, a new political proportionality calculation has been completed.
2.4 The reduction of the number of Conservative and Independent members from 45 to 44 means that their proportionality entitlement decreases from 50.00% to 48.89%. Reform UK have increased from 4 to 5 members and so their proportionality entitlement increases from 4.44% to 5.56%.
2.5 This results in the seat allocation on overall committees decreasing from 105 to 103 for Conservative and Independent’s and increasing from 10 to 12 for Reform UK, as below:
|
Political Group/Party |
Total number of seats at 18 March 2026 |
Current Position |
Overall change |
|
Conservative and Independents |
105 |
103 |
-2 |
|
Liberal Democrat and Liberals |
33 |
33 |
0 |
|
Labour |
24 |
24 |
0 |
|
NY Independent |
16 |
16 |
0 |
|
Green and Independents |
18 |
18 |
0 |
|
Independent Unaffiliated (aggregated) |
4 |
4 |
0 |
|
Reform UK |
10 |
12 |
+2 |
|
Total |
210 |
210 |
0 |
2.6 The committee seat calculation, at Appendix 1, shows that the 2 seats due to be reallocated from Conservative and Independent to Reform UK should come from the following committees: 1 seat on Scrutiny and Audit; and 1 seat on Ordinary Committees.
2.7 The full proportionality calculation is appended at Appendix 2 for information.
2.8 The 10 seats currently held by Reform UK are:
|
Care and Independence OSC x2 |
Cllr Mike Jordan Cllr John Mann |
|
|
Scrutiny and Audit |
Corporate and Partnerships OSC x2 |
Cllr Karl Arthur Cllr Tom Seston |
|
Scrutiny and Audit |
Scrutiny of Health x2 |
Cllr Mike Jordan Cllr John Mann |
|
Ordinary Committee |
Chief Officer Appointments |
Cllr Tom Seston |
|
Ordinary Committee |
Pension Fund |
Cllr Mike Jordan |
|
Ordinary Committee |
General Licensing x 2 |
Cllr Mike Jordan Cllr John Mann |
3.1 The change in political party membership has no bearing on the proportionality of the Selby and Ainsty Area Planning Committee. The reduction in Conservative and Independents members mean the proportionality decreases from 2.19% to 1.75%, this still rounds to 2 members. Reform UK proportionality increases from 0.88% to 1.31%, which similarly, still rounds to 1. This is as detailed below.
|
Group |
No of councillors in the area |
Proportionality based upon 7 members |
No of committee seats |
|
Conservative and Independents |
4 |
1.75 |
2 |
|
Liberal Democrats and Liberals |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
|
Labour |
5 |
2.19 |
2 |
|
Green and Independents |
2 |
0.88 |
1 |
|
NY Independent |
2 |
0.88 |
1 |
|
Reform UK |
3 |
1.31 |
1 |
|
Independent unaffiliated |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
|
Total |
16 |
7.00 |
7 |
3.2 The current membership of the Selby and Ainsty Area Planning Committee is:
|
|
Councillor |
Political Group |
|
1 |
CRANE, Mark |
Conservative and Independents |
|
2 |
LUNN, Cliff |
Conservative and Independents |
|
3 |
WARNEKEN, Arnold |
Green Party |
|
4 |
ARTHUR, Karl |
Reform UK |
|
5 |
PACKHAM, Bob (Vice Chair) |
Labour |
|
6 |
SHAW-WRIGHT, Steve |
Labour |
|
7 |
CATTANACH, John (Chair) |
North Yorkshire Independent |
4.0 MAJOR OUTSIDE BODIES
4.1 The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 requires political proportionality to be applied to all outside bodies where the Council appoints three or more representatives. For North Yorkshire Council, this includes: the Police Fire and Crime Panel; (NYPFCP) the North York Moors National Park Authority; (NYMNPA) and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).
4.2 The changes to political group membership has an impact on the proportionality calculation of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel and the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority.
4.3 The allocation of seats on the NYPFCP is affected by the changes to political groups. Whilst the Conservative and Independents proportionality reduces from 3.50% to 3.42%, with rounding, the Conservatives still have a 0.03% advantage over Reform UK whose proportionality increases from 0.31% to 0.39%. The North Yorkshire Independents proportionality, however, increases from 0.54% to 0.62%. At the meeting of Council on 12 November 2025, the Green and Independents had been allocated a seat to which both they and the North Yorkshire Independents had equal claim. The reduction in the Conservative and Independents proportionality now means that North Yorkshire Independents are entitled to a seat on the panel. This is detailed at Appendix 3.
4.4 The Conservative and Independents proportionality of the NYMNPA decreases from 4.5% to 4.4% and increases from 0.4% to 0.5% for Reform UK. The Conservative and Independents should then lose a seat and Reform UK should gain a seat. This is detailed at Appendix 3.
4.5 There is no change to the membership of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority as whilst the proportionality for Conservative and Independents decreases from 5.0% to 4.89% and increases from 0.44% to 0.56% for Reform UK, 4.89% still rounds to 5.0%. As such, there is no change. This is also detailed at Appendix 3.
5.1 The allocation of committee places must reflect the membership of the Council irrespective of whether councillors are in a political group, non-aligned or single party councillors. If some councillors are not members of a registered political group of the Council, then the Council must allocate these members a proportion of the committee places that are remaining after the political groups have expressed their wishes to the Council.
5.2 Whilst legally the statute provides allocations should be to political groups, the Local Government Association has taken the view that in the true spirit of the 1989 Act, that morally or democratically, councillors who are not members of a political group on the Council are entitled to fair representation. Political groups are not entitled to have more than their share under the proportionality rules. Thus, they cannot exclude councillors that
are not in a political group i.e. single party councillors or non-aligned independent councillors. Historically, the unaffiliated members have not taken all the seats allocated to them and some of these seats have been re-distributed to the groups.
6.0 POLITICAL BALANCE GUIDANCE
6.1 The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 introduced a requirement that certain appointments should be proportionate to the political composition of the Council.
6.2 The Council or the Committee must give effect to principles set out in the statutory provisions. The principles are:
1) All the seats must not be allocated to the same political group
2) The majority of the seats must be allocated to the political group (if any) that holds the majority of seats on the Council
3) Subject to 1) and 2), in the case of ordinary committees, the number of seats on the ordinary committees which are allocated to each political group must bear the same proportion to the total of all the seats on the ordinary committees as is borne by the number of members of that group to the membership of the Council.
6.3 Please note that “Ordinary Committees” of this Council are: Chief Officer Appointments and Disciplinary Committee; Employment Appeals Committee; Pension Fund Committee; Strategic Planning Committee; (Transport) Appeals Committee and Standards and Governance Committee.
6.4 Scrutiny committees and Audit are not “Ordinary Committees”.
6.5 This means that it is necessary to add up the total number of seats on all the ordinary committees. If a political group represents, for example, three quarters of the membership of the Council, it is entitled to three quarters of the total number of seats on all ordinary committees.
6.6 As a result, on some ordinary committees a political group may have more members than the application of the next principle would justify. It provides an allowance for the fact that calculating the proportion will not usually lead to whole numbers and so there will be rounding up and rounding down.
6.7 The duty on the Council is to give effect to these principles in so far as is reasonably practicable. This recognises that there cannot be an exact application of the rules.
6.8 Co-optees are not considered as part of calculating political balance except for any co-opted member with voting rights appointed to a committee with education functions under section 13(5) Local Government and Housing Act 1989 - see section 15 of that Act.
7.0 ADDITIONAL LOCAL CONSIDERATIONS
7.1 It is established practice that every Councillor, who is not on the Executive, has a place on either an Overview and Scrutiny Committee or on the Audit Committee, where practicable.
7.2 During the period of this Council it has been the established practice to allocate 1 seat on Scrutiny and Audit committees and 1 seat on Ordinary Committees to each of the unaffiliated Independents. This is practice rather than a legal requirement.
8.0 COMMITTEE REVIEW
8.1 The seats that Councillor Tim Grogan previously occupied as a member of the Conservative and Independents group are retained by the Conservative and Independents Group. Councillor Tim Grogan sat in the following Conservative and Independents seats:
· Corporate and Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee
· General Licensing Committee
· Statutory Licencing (not politically proportionate).
8.2 These seats now need to be appointed to by the Conservative and Independents Group.
9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 In considering the proportionality calculations and analysis, it is recommended that the following changes be made to the allocation of seats on committees:
· Reform UK gain an additional seat on Scrutiny Committees from the Conservative and Independents - this would be from one of the following (Children and Families; Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise; Audit; or Housing and Leisure).
· Reform UK gain an additional seat Ordinary Committees from the Conservative and Independents - this would be from Strategic Planning Committee.
· The seats on the following committees and outside bodies that were previously allocated to Councillor Tim Grogan when a member of the Conservative and Independents Group need to be appointed to by the Conservative and Independent Group as these are retained by that political group:
1. Corporate and Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee
2. General Licensing Committee
3. Statutory Licencing (not politically proportionate).
· Reform UK gain a seat on the North York Moors National Park from the Conservative and Independents.
· The North Yorkshire Independents gain a seat on the North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime Panel.
10.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
10.1 The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 introduced a requirement that certain appointments should be proportionate to the political composition of the Council and the Group need to consider a fair distribution of seats.
10.2 Alternative allocations could be made as long as they apply with the rules identified in paragraph 6.0. The proposals in paragraph 9.1 represents the application of these rules in so far as is reasonably practicable.
11.0 IMPLICATIONS
11.1 There are no financial, legal, equalities or climate change implications arising from this report.
12.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
12.1 The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 introduced a requirement that certain appointments should be proportionate to the political composition of the Council. The changes to the political balance that resulted from change to political parties necessitate a review of the proportional allocation of seats.
|
13.0 |
RECOMMENDATIONS
|
||
|
|
That the allocation of seats is undertaken in accordance with proportionality rules as follows: · Reform UK gain an additional seat on Scrutiny Committees from the Conservative and Independents - this would be from one of the following (Children and Families; Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise; Audit; or Housing and Leisure).
· Reform UK gain an additional seat on Ordinary Committees from the Conservative and Independents - this would be from Strategic Planning Committee.
· The seats on the following committees and outside bodies that were previously allocated to Councillor Tim Grogan when a member of the Conservative and Independent Group need to be appointed to by the Conservative and Independent Group as these are retained by that political group:
1. Corporate and Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2. General Licensing Committee 3. Statutory Licencing (not politically proportionate).
· Reform UK gain a seat on the North York Moors National Park from the Conservative and Independents.
· The North Yorkshire Independents gain a seat on the North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime Panel. |
||
|
|
|
||
Appendix 1 - Seat Allocation
Appendix 2 - Full Proportionality Calculation
Appendix 3 – Major Outside Bodies Calculation
Barry Khan
Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic Services
County Hall, Northallerton
Report author – Daniel Harry, Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny North Yorkshire Council.
12 May 2026