NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

 

17 NOVEMBER 2021

 

STATEMENT OF THE OPEN TO BUSINESS PORTFOLIO HOLDER COUNTY COUNCILLOR

DEREK BASTIMAN (INCLUDING GROWTH, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLANNING, WASTE MANAGEMENT, TRADING STANDARDS AND BUSINESS RELATIONS)

 

Economic Development

The York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) continues to meet its delivery targets. In particular, it is on track to fully deliver the Get Building Capital Fund, which was launched as a result of the pandemic. York and North Yorkshire received £15.4m through this fund to be fully complete by March 23. In addition the LEP’s Business Support programme has engaged over 11,000 businesses this year already with over 500 receiving a support package whilst every school in North Yorkshire is now involved in the York and North Yorkshire Careers and Enterprise Programme.

 

Looking forward in response to the Government’s Plan for Growth, the LEP is developing the York and North Yorkshire Plan for Growth, working in partnership with all Local Authorities and a wide range of partners.  It should be noted that we still await the outcome of a national review of LEPs which will set out their role for the future. This is expected to be included within the Levelling Up White Paper whose publication is due before Christmas.

 

Planning Services

Final representations have recently been sought from stakeholders on the emerging Minerals and Waste Joint Plan for North Yorkshire, York & the North York Moors; a Plan that will become the key reference for minerals and waste planning decisions up to 2030. This public consultation which was launched on 21 July, ended on 15 September and is the final stage of consultation.

 

The Plan has been developed over several years by North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council and the North York Moors National Park Authority and is now reaching its final stages before formal adoption. After extensive public consultation, a Government Inspector examined the draft plan in public in 2018 and 2019 and following the Inspector’s recommendations, further work has been done to prepare Main Modifications to the Plan which have been the subject of the most recent public consultation.

 

These modifications update and strengthen some policies, incorporate legislative changes and add further and revised sites to the Plan. The duly made comments received during this most recent consultation are in the process of being forwarded to the Inspector, who will then take them into account when writing her Report. Subject to the Inspector’s Report, the final stage will be the adoption of the plan as an official policy document.

 

E-Crime:

The appeal against conviction for Operation Eiffel was recently heard at the Royal Courts of Justice.  Operation Eiffel was the first of our online secondary ticketing prosecutions, concerning two individuals who were convicted of fraudulent trading in connection with the sale of millions of pounds of tickets for high profile music, sporting and other cultural events.  The individuals used hundreds of credit cards, e-mails and other identity documents that were not registered in their own names to buy the tickets from primary ticketing web sites such as Ticketmaster.  Sophisticated software was also used to buy the tickets much more quickly than a normal consumer would be able to, thus denying thousands of consumers the chance to buy the tickets at the primary point of sale.  The tickets were then almost immediately relisted on secondary ticketing web sites with significant marks-ups, sometime as much as 10 times the original price of the ticket.  Tickets were sold tickets at inflated prices for the Manchester bombing tribute concert and for Ed Sheeran’s Teenage Cancer Trust charity event at the Royal Albert Hall.  We expect to receive a ruling from the Court of Appeal this month.

 

Food, Farming and Health:

The UK Food Information Amendment, also known as Natasha’s Law, came into effect from October 2021 and requires food businesses to provide full ingredient lists and allergen labelling on foods prepacked for direct sale on the premises.

 

According to the new rules, Prepacked for Direct Sale (PPDS) food will have to clearly display the following information on the packaging:

·           Name of the food

·           Full ingredients list, with allergenic ingredients emphasised (ie in bold, italics or a different colour).

 

A schedule of activities is underway to promote this change and support businesses including advice letters, which have been shared with District Council colleagues, increased social media posts and press release, and direct support via our business advice service.

 

Growth and Heritage Services

The County Council is being consulted on number of significant policies and projects: 

·         Local Nature Recovery Strategy Consultation- strategies will be on a County or similar geographic footprint

·         Proposed Yorkshire Wolds Area of Natural Beauty (AONB) - Natural England is proposing to hold stakeholder events in November to explain the process around the potential designation.

 

Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP)

·         Drax Bio Energy and Carbon Capture Storage (BECCS) - a Carbon Capture Storage facility at the Drax Power Station site to service the Bio-energy generators. Statutory consultation is expected to begin in November

·         Power Grid Ventures - Humber Low Carbon Pipeline Project - a pipeline to carry carbon away from Drax and other facilities in the area and store it underground in the North Sea.

·         Highways England – A66 Improvements - this entails 10 separate highway improvement schemes, two are within the North Yorkshire boundary: Stephen Bank to Carkin Moor and Scotch Corner.

·         Power Grid – Yorkshire Green Energy Project - to increase capacity of overhead lines between York and Selby and limited ground infrastructure. Statutory consultation is expected to begin in November and run until just before Christmas.

 

Community Renewal Fund

Government recently announced the successful bids for the Community Renewal Fund, awarding the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership £769,000 towards the ‘Delivering a Carbon Negative Energy System in North Yorkshire’ project. This project will explore opportunities to decarbonise buildings and transport in rural communities in the County.

 

The Ryedale Roman Hoard

A hoard of high status Roman metalwork has been purchased for the Yorkshire Museum, largely due to the generosity of one private donor from San Francisco. The hoard was found in Ryedale by detectorists in May 2020 and includes a bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a statue of the God Mars, a knife handle in the form of a leaping horse and a surveyor’s plumb bob.  The hoard should be on display to the public when the museum reopens in Spring 2022.

https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Ryedale-Bronzes-photography-by-David-Aaron-Ltd.jpg          Shield

A recent excavation in Hambleton resulted in a metal find of an Anglo-Saxon shield, a central iron boss with a series of silvered copper discs around it, along with a couple of usual squashed star-shaped spangles not seen before by the County Archaeologist. There are also traces of leather and possibly wood amongst the corrosion products. The Archaeologists are looking into the possibility of conserving this for a local museum.

 

Waste Management

The waste service has responded to Government consultations proposing major reforms to the waste management sector. Work continues with partners to establish how to meet new obligations and deliver best value to residents.

 

Building upon existing waste awareness activities, two new projects got underway in 2021. During August the ‘GET reCYCLING’ campaign encouraged residents to get back onto their bikes. Roadshows helped people with maintenance issues and residents were encouraged to drop off unusable bikes to the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs).  In total 1200 bikes were donated, eight bikes were given away to two local families as part of the competition and 50 have been donated to other local causes.

 

Since July 2021 we have entered into formalised agreements with the charity ‘Frade’ and the not for profit organisation ‘The Recycle Project’ to collect the items donated at the HWRCs. The items, such as lawnmowers, furniture, homeware etc are upcycled, refurbished, used for community projects or sold on in the organisation’s shops.

 

COUNTY COUNCILLOR DEREK BASTIMAN