Agenda item

Recommendations:

The Executive is asked:

i.        That the responses from the consultation process which took place following publication of the Terms of Reference in July 2022 and the comments of the Member Working Group be noted.

ii.       That the draft recommendations as set out in Appendices 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the report be agreed and publicised as part of a Stage 2 consultation commencing on 20 February for eight weeks.

iii.      That the executive determine its response to the Notice of Motion approved by Harrogate Borough Council on 21 September 2022.

Considered – A report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal & Democratic Services) to present draft recommendations for new town councils for Harrogate and Scarborough, along with proposed minor amendments to parish boundaries in Scarborough.

County Councillor David Chance introduced the report, setting out the Terms of Reference agreed for the community governance review for the unparished parts of Harrogate and Scarborough and the details of the Stage 1 consultation that took place from August to October 2022. Following an analysis of the results, draft recommendations have been developed for each of the areas under review. The Executive is also asked to respond to a Request for a Referendum from Harrogate Borough Council.

Kerry Russett, Head of Democratic Services and Corporate Modernisation at Scarborough Borough Council, spoke about the approach taken for the Stage 1 consultation, the tailored approach taken for each area and the communication channels used to promote the consultation, including a letter sent to every household in the affected areas, along with relevant stakeholders, to ensure maximum participation. She noted the responses received in both the Harrogate and Scarborough unparished areas showed a clear majority in favour of creating a parish council. Looking at the text responses received, the reasons against creating town councils included not wanting the additional council tax or extra layer of local government as well as the extra bureaucracy that may be created. The reasons for creating town councils focussed on the local aspect, such as the need for local representation for residents, local decision making and the need for local knowledge of the areas. For the boundary corrections consulted on in Scarborough (Osgodby, Eastfield and Newby and Scalby) there was a mandate in all three anomalous areas to work to align the division boundaries with parish boundaries due to the geography of the locations and to maintain community identity.

Elizabeth Jackson, Democratic Services Manager at Harrogate Borough Council, outlined the recommendations proposed for the Harrogate unparished area. As part of the resulting discussion, the Leader noted the communication received by Executive members from County Councillor Chris Aldred proposing as part of the Harrogate plans that the current Harrogate Borough Council ward boundaries be used in the unparished area rather than the NYCC division boundaries. It was confirmed that this proposal could form part of the Stage 2 consultation.

Kerry Russett outlined the recommendations proposed for the Scarborough unparished area. Following this, County Councillor Derek Bastiman raised a concern about recommendations 6 and 7 of the Scarborough unparished area recommendations, that the number of parish councillors proposed should be increased to 15 rather than 10, so 3 councillors are elected for each of the five parish wards rather than the 2 proposed. 

County Councillor Liz Colling also spoke in support of changing recommendation 6 in the Scarborough proposals to increase the number of parish councillors for Scarborough Town Council from 10 councillors to 15. She believed the 10 parish councillors proposed was insufficient to achieve the ambitions of double devolution and having enough councillors to ensure a diversity of views and to meet the challenges ahead. The number of town councillors elected in Ripon and Northallerton was cited as another reason why the number of parish councillors in Scarborough should be increased of part of the recommendations. This view was supported by County Councillors Janet Jefferson and Tony Randerson.

County Councillor Janet Sanderson asked about whether the Stage 2 public consultation could ask if respondents were interested in standing for election as part of the proposed town councils. Barry Khan, Monitoring Officer responded that every household in the unparished areas of Harrogate and Scarborough affected by the proposals had been written to as part of Stage 1 consultation, and had been praised by the external consultants assisting the review for the thorough approach taken. For the Stage 2 consultation, it is intended to be more specific and direct about the proposals for creating town councils in the unparished areas, to allow more information for the public to form a considered response.

On the motion from Harrogate Borough Council requesting a binding referendum, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that this is not required under the law for a referendum to form part of a community governance review to provide democratic legitimacy to the outcome. As an alternative, it was suggested that rather than relying on an online consultation as originally planned for the Stage 2 consultation process, that instead every household affected by the community governance review proposals in Harrogate and Scarborough is written to again to give them a further opportunity to comment on the proposals and to try and encourage the maximum number of responses possible.

County Councillor Michael Harrison outlined his concerns about quickly replacing the Borough Council in Harrogate with a Town Council and potentially introducing a new tax liability on residents. He also believed the introduction of a new Town Council could undermine work of the new Area Committees. However, he understood the anomaly of leaving the unparished areas of Harrogate and Scarborough as they are now, whilst the rest of North Yorkshire is divided up into parish and town councils. He also recognised the aspiration of double devolution as part of the County Council submission to Government for Local Government Reorganisation and the council tax harmonisation exercise that has taken place ahead of moving to a new unitary authority. On the suggestion that the parish ward boundaries reflect the current HBC ward boundaries in the unparished area suggested by Councillor Aldred, he felt it was a legitimate issue to raise, but would lead to confusion and undermine the creation of a new authority by maintaining the ward names in the unparished area. Finally, he noted that the housing estates on the outskirts of Harrogate at Killinghall Moor and the previous Ethelburga’s site was an anomaly, but it fell outside the scope of the review. However, those properties could be considered as part of a likely future community governance review when the North Yorkshire boundaries are reviewed.

Moving to the recommendations, the Scarborough unparished area recommendations were amended by County Councillor Derek Bastiman at Recommendations 6 and 7, to increase the number of councillors elected to the parish be increased from 10 to 15, with 3 parish councillors to be elected for each parish ward rather than two. Therefore it was:

Resolved –

i.        That the responses from the consultation process which took place following publication of the Terms of Reference in July 2022 and the comments of the Member Working Group be noted.

ii.       That the draft recommendations (as amended) set out in Appendices 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the report be agreed and publicised as part of a Stage 2 consultation commencing on 20 February for eight weeks.

iii.      That the Executive note the Notice of Motion approved by Harrogate Borough Council on 21 September 2022. Rather than hold a binding referendum, it was agreed that as part of the Stage 2 public consultation process for the Community Governance Review, every household in the Harrogate and Scarborough unparished areas will be written out to again with information on the detailed proposals.