NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
15 July 2026
STATEMENT OF EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR CULTURE, ARTS & HOUSING
CULTURE
HM The King visited Knaresborough Castle on 26 May and took in a tour of the Keep and Courthouse Museum, along with a short talk on Knaresborough Forest and the River Nidd. Positive feedback was received by the Duchy and the Palace teams on the day.
Culture & Archives service along with Out of the Box Learning have won the Partnership of the Year award at the International Museums & Heritage Awards, a groundbreaking programme, sharing museum collections nationally. In its first quarter there were over 5,000 visitors.
Craven Museum’s gold lunula graced the front cover of the latest issue of British Archaeology magazine, with an article by curator Charlotte Craig and archaeologist Dr Deborah Hallam, exploring the object’s story and the museum’s acquisition of it.
Our new education space at Woodend Edith’s Place is proving very popular with visitors and schools and has had some wonderful feedback. Art Therapy UK are using the area to deliver their Women’s Eco Group and Youth Justice also recently started using the space too. This project has been enabled by the Arts Council Museums in Schools funding.
We have just received a large archaeological deposition from York University from excavations at Flixton Carr, an internationally significant site that predates the better-known Star Carr. This is an exciting opportunity to use the material to tell the story of the landscape of the area in the period directly after the last ice age.
Our annual curatorial work experience week at Mercer Art Gallery, took place 29 June to 3
July, and we are developing a creative careers event for November in collaboration with our Local Cultural Education Partnership FORGE CREATES.
LIBRARIES
Our new Mobile Library visits 41 communities and since the launch in January, we have welcomed 269 new members. Our vehicle provides space for partners to join the service at our stops. So far we have welcomed the Adult Learning Service Trailblazer team, Fire and Rescue Service, Trading Standards and Living Well Smokefree where partners have had meaningful interactions with customers.
As part of the National Year of Reading the Adult Reading Challenge ran in North Yorkshire libraries from 19 January to 12 April encouraging adults to rediscover reading and try something new. Overall, 2198 adults took part, 364 completed the challenge, with 94 new adult members joining.
Under‑5s Fortnight was a two‑week programme delivered across all NYC libraries in April, designed to boost Early Years engagement and shared reading in families. We delivered 120 events with 2300 attendees, alongside doubling book issues for children aged 0–4 and a sharp rise in new young members. The programme combined creative and partner‑led activities to provide an inclusive offer, strengthening awareness of library services, including the launch of our new Story Sacks for parents to borrow. It also reinforced libraries’ role as community hubs supporting school readiness, family wellbeing, and early literacy as part of the Best Start in Life agenda.
During Local and Community History Month in May 141,112 people engaged with displays, events and activities in the library service. There were 114 events held, including stock displays in 39 libraries; 15 storytelling and themed children’s activities; eight pop-up museums delivered in partnership with North Yorkshire Archives and Craven Museum; 17 local history talks; Ancestry and Find My Past training in eight libraries; and 19 exhibitions developed with local history organisations such as Bilton Historical Society and the 1779 Society in Filey. The programme also included two local history walks, two ‘Access to the Archives’ evenings in Selby and Scarborough and a book launch in Harrogate.
VENUES & ATTRACTIONS
By 15 July, Scarborough Open Air Theatre will have hosted 16 shows as part of a record-breaking season of 28 performances, with both shows and ticket sales reaching an all-time high. The season opened with Rick Astley and Madness, with further international acts including Billy Ocean, Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé — all sell-out performances. A further 12 shows are scheduled, including a double date for Teddy Swims, Hollywood Vampires (featuring Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper) and many more.
At Scarborough Spa, the Fortress Festival took place in May. Now in its fourth year, the event was once again a sell-out success, attracting visitors from across the world.
Armed Forces Day took place in Scarborough’s South Bay on 27 June. The event featured six impressive air displays, including a Chinook helicopter flypast, culminating in a display by the RAF Eurofighter Typhoon and a parade.
Plans for 17-19 July Seafest at Scarborough Spa are well underway as part of the Scarborough 400 celebrations. Seafest will showcase local bands, a community stage, chef demonstrations and a community hub. Visitors can also enjoy other activities including a cardboard replica of the historic Spa Pump Room and a Lego model of the venue. The Spa will be illuminated across the weekend to mark the 400th anniversary. The event will also launch the orchestra’s 114th summer season.
In Peasholm Park, the first Naval Warfare battle of the season will take place on 27 June to coincide with Armed Forces Day. Looking ahead, the 2027 season will mark 100 years since the first Naval Warfare battles in the park, and plans are already being considered to celebrate this significant milestone.
The second food festival of the year in Filey took place in June and was a success. Attendance on Saturday was slightly lower due to unsettled weather, but Sunday saw an increase in visitor numbers. Traders reported high levels of satisfaction across the weekend.
Whitby Pavilion has delivered a diverse programme of successful events. The Ironstone Line Dance Weekend proved so popular that the 2027 event sold out on the closing evening. Celebrations of local sport were held, including Whitby Fishermen’s Football Club’s Annual Presentation Evening and Whitby Town Football Club’s Centenary Black-Tie Dinner. A sell-out performance by Paul Young further demonstrated the venue’s appeal, alongside strong interest in upcoming events such as Whitby 60s Weekend, which anticipates a successful 21st anniversary in 2027. Improvements to external signage have been implemented to increase visibility and encourage greater use of the venue.
ACTIVE NORTH YORKSHIRE
Jack Laugher Leisure Health & Wellbeing Hub
In June, NHS physiotherapy services in Ripon moved from a traditional hospital setting into the Jack Laugher Leisure Health & Wellbeing Hub (Ripon), alongside Active Against Cancer services. Physiotherapy teams will work closely with Active North Yorkshire staff to support patients transitioning to gym-based exercise, swimming or community classes once their clinical treatment ends. This collaboration is a significant milestone for active wellbeing in the community supporting residents to stay active and improve physical and mental wellbeing.
Scarborough Sports Village 3G Pitch
Work is nearing completion on this project to reinstate a new playing surface at the facility that will enable full operation. This will include providing a pitch for the return of Scarborough Athletic FC and Scarborough Ladies FC. The handover meeting with contractors and consultants took place on 1 July.
HOUSING
Housing Delivery
Over the course of Quarter 1, we have continued to make good progress across a range of housing delivery projects. A total of 10 new homes were completed during the quarter, comprising eight shared ownership properties at Hawbank, Skipton, and two properties in Catterick which will be used as temporary accommodation through funding secured from the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF).
Following a successful funding bid, the Council has recently received approval under LAHF Round 4 and has been allocated £3.132 million to support the delivery of 24 additional homes across North Yorkshire over the next three years. Of these, 15 properties will provide much-needed temporary accommodation for homeless households.
Work is also progressing on a review of the Temporary Accommodation Development Programme, originally approved in 2024 to deliver 90 units of temporary accommodation across the county. To date, 20 homes have been completed and are in use, while a further 39 properties have been acquired and are either undergoing refurbishment or awaiting necessary works before becoming available. Given the continuing pressure arising from homelessness, proposals are being developed to increase the overall programme to 116 units, including the 15 homes funded through LAHF Round 4.
Housing Enabling
On 12 June, around 150 key stakeholders from across the region attended the Rural Housing Conference at Ripon Cathedral. Council officers supported the event, which showcased the Council’s Rural Housing Enabling Service and the significant development funding available through the framework supported by the 100% Council Tax premium on second homes. The Council’s approach was positively received by delegates. The conference brought together experts from the housing, development and community sectors to discuss the urgent need for more affordable housing in rural communities. Discussions focused on the barriers to delivery and opportunities to accelerate the supply of affordable homes across the region.
Housing Renewal
The Warm Homes Fund has received 1,788 referrals to date, with a strong pipeline of projects in place to achieve the Year 2 target of improving 99 homes. Energy efficiency advice is now available to residents across all housing tenures, supported by a programme of local events, newsletters and outreach activity aimed at promoting healthier, more sustainable homes and reducing fuel poverty.
Transformation work within the Lifeline service has commenced, with the aim of creating a more consistent service offer across North Yorkshire. The digital switchover programme remains on track, with more than half of customers now upgraded.
Within Private Sector Housing, preparations continue for the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act. During the last six months, the service received 828 service requests, issued 74 enforcement notices and served six civil penalty notices with a total value of £113,000. New Tenancy Relations Officers are now in post, and staff training is underway in preparation for the introduction of the new Housing Health and Safety Rating System expected at the end of June 2026.
Housing Needs : Homelessness
As Quarter 1 draws to a close, there are 1,306 open cases within the Housing Needs service, equating to approximately 37 cases per full-time equivalent Housing Options Officer. Around 32% of all open cases relate to housing advice.
The service is currently supporting 193 households through homelessness prevention activity, while 354 households are being assisted under the relief duty. In addition, 289 households have been accepted as statutorily homeless and are awaiting a suitable permanent offer of accommodation to enable the Council to discharge its homelessness duty.
Emergency and Temporary Accommodation
The number of households accommodated in emergency accommodation has increased from 120 at the start of April to 158 currently, including six families.
Landlord Services
The 2025/26 Tenant Satisfaction Measures show continued improvement in customer satisfaction with North Yorkshire Council’s landlord services. Overall satisfaction increased to 74.3%, up from 69.1% in 2024/25.
Strong improvements were recorded in customer communication and engagement, with satisfaction that the Council keeps tenants informed increasing from 71.0% to 76.9%, and satisfaction that the Council listens to tenant views and acts on them rising from 58.0% to 63.6%. Satisfaction that tenants are treated fairly and with respect also increased significantly from 76.6% to 81.5%.
Performance relating to repairs and property standards continues to improve, with satisfaction with the repairs service increasing from 74.9% to 76.5%, satisfaction with repair completion times rising from 71.7% to 74.4%, and satisfaction that homes are well maintained improving from 71.0% to 74.1%. Satisfaction that homes are safe remains particularly strong, increasing slightly from 82.1% to 82.7%.
While satisfaction with complaint handling and the management of anti-social behaviour remains lower than other measures, both areas have shown improvement, with complaints satisfaction increasing from 33.1% to 35.0% and satisfaction with the handling of anti-social behaviour rising from 60.1% to 60.2%.
Overall, the results demonstrate a positive trend across landlord services and growing tenant confidence in service delivery, with improvements recorded across almost all satisfaction measures.
In addition, we are now making good progress against the adopted voids reduction strategy and are on track to meet the target to have 2.5% of homes void by March 2027. As at the end of May 407 homes were void as compared to 520 at the end of March. Over recent months more homes are being made able for reletting than have come vacant. As previously highlighted additional contractors have been appointed to help focus on voids work and the extra capacity is now kicking in. A detailed overview of progress against the void reduction plan along with an analysis of the impact of the new improved ‘lettable standard’ will be considered by the Housing and Leisure Scrutiny Committee in September.
COUNCILLOR SIMON MYERS