North
Yorkshire County Council
Informal meeting
of the Executive Members
21
September 2021
Report to Leader of the
Council
County Council’s response to
proposed Warding arrangements
for the new Unitary
Council
Report of the Assistant Chief
Executive (Legal and Democratic Services)
and Assistant Director - Policy,
Partnerships and Communities
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1.0
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Purpose of Report
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1.1
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To provide the Leader of the Council
with the relevant information to provide a response to Government
so that the Secretary of State can consider views before the SoS
makes the final decision with regard to interim Ward Boundaries for
the first elections of the new unitary Council and other issues
that will be contained in the Structural Changes Order
(SCO).
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2.0
Executive Summary
2.1 This
report seeks to inform the Executive Members and asks the Leader
to:
(a) approve the
submission of interim Ward boundaries for the new North Yorkshire
Council for consideration by the Secretary of State.
(b) approve a response to
questions that are being asked prior to the drafting of the
Structural Changes Order.
2.2
Following on from the expiry of the legislation permitting
committee meetings to be held remotely, all remote live-broadcast
committee meetings are informal meetings of the Committee Members,
with any formal decisions required being taken under delegated
decision making powers. It is proposed that the Leader takes these
decisions, in consultation with Executive Members, under the
delegated power to all Executive Members in paragraph 5 of the
Executive Members’ Delegation Scheme “To make a formal
response on behalf of the County Council, following appropriate
consultation, to any White Papers, Green Papers, Government
Consultation Papers or other consultative document where it is
appropriate that the response should be a member
response.”
2.3 The
Chairman agreed, on 1 September 2021, that these decisions should
be treated under the Council’s special urgency and call in
exemption procedures given the urgency of the timescales involved
to meet the Government deadline of 21 September 2021 for responding
to the consultation on warding arrangements.
3.0
Background
3.1 The
Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick MP, has announced that
Government will proceed with a single unitary authority for North
Yorkshire. The Government had invited proposals in July 2020
to streamline and transfer Local Government in North Yorkshire,
replacing the current two‑tier system with a new unitary
council. This would pave the way for powers and resources
that would accompany devolution under a future
agreement.
3.2 In
February, Government undertook an eight week consultation on
proposals submitted for reorganisation and the Government has now
proposed to implement a single unitary authority for North
Yorkshire.
4.0
Structural Changes Order
4.1 An
important element in the process of creating a unitary authority is
the drafting and making of the Structural Changes Order
(SCO). The purpose of the Order is to facilitate the
transition from the existing councils in North Yorkshire to create
a single unitary council. The Order will define the basic
governance and operating principles in the lead-up to the new North
Yorkshire unitary authority, including the number of Councillors
for the unitary authority and the warding arrangements.
4.2 The SCO
is made by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and
Local Government in the exercise of his powers within
the Local Government and Public Involvement in
Health Act 2007. It is anticipated that the Order will be
laid before parliament in January/February 2022 and come into
effect by March 2022 at the latest.
4.3 The
Elections that are due in May 2022 will be to elect Councillors who
will run the County Council for the first year and will then sit on
the new unitary authority for the following four years. Civil
servants have given a clear steer that the maximum number of
councillors for the new authority would be 90. In order
to deliver this the SCO would need to include proposed Wards for
the new council. It is understood from the Boundary
Commission that it could not carry out a full boundary review prior
to the Elections in 2022, however it would be able to carry out a
full boundary review prior to the next Elections in 2027.
Therefore it is proposed to submit proposed Wards for the first
term of the unitary councillors that equates to 89 and that the new
council would commit to submitting itself for a boundary review
prior to the next set of Elections.
4.4 Civil
servants from MHCLG have written to the County Council and
Districts Councils within North Yorkshire to state that:
“Elections/warding/parish
councils
The order will specify the number of councillors
for the first elections in 2022 and the warding arrangements based
on groupings of county divisions/district wards to achieve best fit
with LGBCE guidelines.
We are happy to look at any ideas you wish to
share very informally now or in early September, and
we’d like you to share any ideas with political sign
off/endorsement by mid-September. We understand that you
plan to let us have this information
on 21 September. We are happy to consider one idea
that all councils agree on, or for several ideas to
be put forward for the Secretary of State to consider.
The LGBCE will be providing us with informal advice but have
no formal role at this stage.
Alignment of parish council elections is also
something we can consider making provision for – please let
us know your thoughts on this.”
4.5
Therefore the Secretary of State
will determine the actual warding arrangements for the new unitary
authority that will be particularised in the Structural Changes
Order and the department has asked for views from each Council to
be submitted by the 21st September
2021.
4.6 A
cross-party informal working group of members has met from the
County Council to consider making a recommendation to the Leader on
how to respond to MHCLG with regard to a potential proposal for
warding within North Yorkshire. A copy of the terms of reference of
the working group is attached at Appendix A. In addition the
cross party member working group has considered comments from
district councils that have been sent to them.
4.7 Each
Council is considering this individually and an informal meeting of
Council Leaders has taken place to discuss this, and a further
meeting of relevant members is due to take place at the time of
writing this report.
Principles Considered by the Member
Group on Warding Arrangements
4.8
The following was taken into account when consider the potential
warding arrangements for the unitary council:
·
The County
Council’s submitted proposal for a unitary council suggested
about 90 councillors and six area committees based on parliamentary
constituencies. The steer from the civil servants was that this 90
should be seen as a maximum number if possible.
·
The Boundary
Commission’s guidance on boundary reviews.
·
The Councils were
advised that the electoral wards for the new council must be made
of existing whole district council wards or county council
divisions and, except in exceptional circumstances, the variance
from the average of number of registered electors per councillor
should not exceed +/-25% to +/-30%. When a future boundary
commission review is undertaken for the elections in 2027, then a
full review would be undertaken.
·
The proposed wards
have been developed using the latest published dataset of
registered local government electors (March 2020). This gives
the total number of registered local government electors as
479,635.
·
Existing district
council wards are not uniform in size across the county. The number
of registered local government electors per ward varies
significantly (smallest is 1162, largest is 8164). Although
most district council wards elect one councillor, some elect two or
three councillors.
·
The following steps
were taken to create the proposed wards:
a.
The county was divided
into six areas using the boundaries of the six parliamentary
constituencies.
b.
Six district council
wards cut across parliamentary constituency boundaries, so these
wards were each allocated to one area based on where the majority
of registered electors live.
c.
District council wards
were grouped together within the six areas into proposed wards for
the unitary council using the criteria that the Local Government
Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is required by law to
use:
(i)
the pattern of wards
should mean that each councillor represents roughly the same number
of electors as elected
(ii)
ward patterns should -
as far as possible - reflect community interests and identities and
boundaries should be identifiable..
d.
The aim was, as far as
possible, to create proposed wards for the unitary council which
each elect one councillor. In some places it was necessary to
create proposed wards that will elect two councillors in order to
achieve electoral equality.
5.0
Recommendations from the Members Warding Group
5.1
The Members Warding Group has made the recommendation contained in
Appendix B which complies with the advice provided by
MHCLG.
5.2 This
recommendation has 89 councillors for the geography of North
Yorkshire, making the average number of registered local government
electors per councillor 5,389. It results in 85 proposed wards with
81 electing one councillor and 4 electing two
councillors.
5.3
Whilst the formulating the new area committees for the unitary
Council will be a matter for those Councillors who are elected in
the May 2022 elections, it should be noted that if the constituency
committees were to be implemented along the existing boundaries,
then one proposed ward, namely Washburn & Spofforth with Lower
Wharfedale, would cover the potential two constituency area
committees and it may mean that member would sit on both area
constituency committees.
5.4
The Working Group also looked at alternative options if the advice
provided by MHCLG did not have to be followed, namely the direction
that the new wards did not have to follow the existing County
Divisions and District Ward boundaries. Therefore the Working Group
have recommending sending in two additional supplementary
proposals, along with the main proposal, namely:
(a)
A main supplementary
proposal relating to Bedale and Tanfield, and to Whitby (Appendix
C)
(b)
A secondary
supplementary proposal that would resolve the issue of having a
ward that straddles Selby and Ainsty Constituency and Skipton and
Ripon Constituency at identified in paragraph 5.3 above (Appendix
D).
6.0 Additional
Contents of the Structural Change Order
6.1
In addition the department has asked the following questions to see
if each Council has a view on the matters which will need to be
covered by the SCO, namely:
·
Should the unitary authority be a
Continuing authority or a new council, and therefore have
an Implementation Executive or Shadow Council
·
How many members from each council
and the balance of county vs
district members on
the Implementation Executive/joint
committee
·
Should particular
individuals e.g. County Leader to Chair, Deputy
Chair be specified?
·
Should there
be any requirements for political
balance?
·
Membership of Implementation Team
and consider specifying particular roles –
chair/deputy chair.
6.2 Appendix
E sets out the proposed position with regard to the issues within
the SCO and the matters are due to be discussed by members of the
Executive and representatives from the District Council after the
drafting of this report to see what matters can be collectively
agreed across the Councils.
6.3 The
Leader is requested to consider how to respond to the specific
questions asked in paragraph 6.1 and to approve the response to
Government on the 21st September.
7.0
Three Stages Prior to the Creation of the Unitary
Authority
7.1 As
background to this item, it is helpful to set out the three stages
that will need to be progressed to create the operation of a new
Unitary Council on 1st April 2023, namely:
(a)
Stage 1 - From
decision to the creation of a Structural Change
Order
7.2
This is an informal stage whereby the County Council and the
District Councils will seek to work together to implement the new
unitary council for April 2023. The Councils are currently working
on setting out the arrangements for members and officers to work
collaboratively across all the Council to do the preliminary work
necessary to create a new unitary Council within the
timescales.
(b)
Stage 2 - Implementation of Structural Change Order to Elections in
May 2022
7.3 As
stated earlier in the report, it is expected that the SCO will be
in effect in March 2022 and will create an implementation Executive
consisting of County and District Councillors to provide political
oversight of the transitional arrangements. It is envisaged that
the informal stage described above will mirror these formal
arrangements so there is consistency during the period prior to
vesting date.
(c) Stage 3 -
After Elections prior to Vesting Date of 1 April
2023
7.4 The
newly elected Councillors will be responsible for the political
oversight of the County Council for the first year and then will be
responsible for North Yorkshire Council for the next four
years. The first Executive after the Elections will take over
the responsibility of the Implementation Executive to provide
political oversight of the Implementation Strategy.
7.5 A
diagram to show a suggested way of working across the Councils for
each stage is shown at appendix F and this will be discussed with
representatives from the District Councils to consider an agreed
way forward.
8.0 Legal
Implications
8.1 As the
Secretary of State has announced the decision to proceed with a
unitary authority for North Yorkshire, it is necessary to consider
the stages that are needed to implement the decision prior to the
creation of the SCO as identified in the report. Ultimately
it will be for the Secretary of State to determine the contents of
the SCO.
8.0
Equalities Implications
8.1 As
identified in the attached Equality Impact Screening Form, there is
not an adverse impact on any protected characteristics.
9.0
Environmental Implications
9.1 There
are no significant environmental implications arising from this
report.
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10.0
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Recommendations
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The Leader is recommended to
approve:
(a) The
submission of interim Ward boundaries for the new North Yorkshire
Council.
(b) The
response to MHCLG with regard to the contents of the Structural
Change Order.
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Barry Khan
Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic
Services) and
Monitoring Officer
County Hall
Northallerton
13 September 2021
Report Authors - Barry Khan and Neil Irving,
Assistant Director - Policy, Partnerships and
Communities
Background Documents:
How Reviews Work |
LGBCE Site https://www.lgbce.org.uk/how-reviews-work
Appendices:
Appendix A : Terms of Reference of members
working group.
Appendix B : Compliant proposal from the Warding
Working Group
Appendix C : Main supplementary proposal relating to Bedale
and Tanfield, and to Whitby
Appendix D : Secondary supplementary
proposal
Appendix E : proposed responses to additional
questions regarding the SCO
Appendix F : Draft diagram for 3 stages of
governance
Appendix G : Equality Impact Screening
form
Appendix A
Warding Working
Group - Terms
of Reference and Roles and
Responsibilities
Purpose: The purpose of the Warding Working Group is to
provide a cross party working group to look at the potential
options for Warding arrangements for the new unitary North
Yorkshire Council. The Working Group will seek to make
representations to the Executive who will then formally submit its
views on behalf of the Council to MHCLG. It will then be for the
Secretary of State to determine the actual warding arrangements for
the unitary authority that will be particularised in the Structural
Changes Order.
Role: The role of theworking Group is to:
(i)
review the
criteria that will be used by the Secretary of State in determining
the warding arrangements for the Elections in May 2022
(ii)
Using the
aforementioned criteria to recommend to the Executive a proposal
for warding for the new Unitary Authority
It is noted that each
political party can make any recommendations it wishes to make
directly to the Secretary of State, who is the ultimate decision
taker.
This Member Working Group is to provide a cross party forum to
discuss the options for the Warding of North Yorkshire Council and
to make a recommendation to the Executive. The Executive may then
consider making representations to the Secretary of
State.
Membership
(and Chair): Membership of the
Working Group will consist of :
(1)
4
members of the Conservative Group
(2)
Councillor
Stuart Parsons (North Yorkshire Independents Group
Leader)
(3)
Councillor
Eric Broadbent (Labour Group Leader)
(4)
Councillor Bryn Griffiths (Liberal Democrats Group
Leader)
This group is a
Member’s Working Group and is not a formal committee of the
Council and therefore does not need to be politically balanced. It
is a time limited task and finish Group which will have the sole
purpose of making its recommendations to the Executive.
The Group will try and make recommendations
through consensus but if a vote needs to be taken at the working
group, it will be one member, one vote with the Chair having a
casting vote.
Objectives: To present a cross-party proposal to the
Executive for consideration of the County Council’s
suggestion for warding arrangements for North Yorkshire Council
within time for the Secretary of State to consider the
proposals.
Background:
On the 21st
July 2021, Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing,
Communities and Local Government, approved the County
Council’s proposal for a North Yorkshire Unitary Council.
Within the County’s Council’s proposal was the
provision that there would be circa 90 Councillors in the new
unitary Council.
The Secretary of State
will determine the number of Councillors for the new Council and
the drawing of the Boundaries for the Wards. It is understood that
during the first term of the new Council, the Boundary Commission
would then undertake a full Boundary Review to establish the more
permanent warding arrangements for the elections in 2027. In
order to inform the Secretary of State of the County
Council’s views with regard to the potential new warding
arrangements, it is proposed to have a cross party working group of
Councillors to review the potential warding structure and to make
recommendations suggestions to the Executive on what those
arrangements should be. The Executive would then determine how they
wish to respond to the Secretary of State on what the views are on
what a potential warding arrangement could look like.
It will be up to the
Secretary of State to determine what the actual number of
Councillors and the boundaries of the wards will be.
Frequency of meetings: It is envisaged that this
work will be time critical to meet the governments timetable in
drafting the Structural Changes Order and therefore the group will
meet as necessary to complete its work.
Responsibilities:
·
Members of the working
group will be responsible for feeding the views of their own groups
into the meeting.
·
Officers will present
a proposal on the warding arrangements as an initial officer view
on the potential of a warding structure which seeks to comply with
the criteria that will be considered by the Secretary of State.
Members will then be able to comment on that initial draft and
propose changes or draft their own proposals afresh.
·
Members of the Group
will be free to share the information of the working group as
widely as they wish to ensure that all members can input into the
discussion and to encourage transparency.
