Name change for Bishop Thornton and Warsill Parish Council

Bishop Thornton and Warsill Parish Council will be renamed in a bid to encourage more residents to consider becoming members of the council.
Harrogate Borough Council's general purposes committee made the decision to change the Parish Council's name last week.Harrogate Borough Council's general purposes committee made the decision to change the Parish Council's name last week.
Harrogate Borough Council's general purposes committee made the decision to change the Parish Council's name last week.

The council's new name will be Bishop Thornton, Shaw Mills and Warsill Parish Council, in a bid to encourage the residents of Shaw Mills to engage with and potentially become members of the parish authority.

It comes after the parish council has struggled to maintain its membership in recent months.

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In November 2018, Harrogate Borough Council had to invoke the power to temporarily appoint the ward member, Councillor Margaret Atkinson, to sit on the parish council in order for it to be quorate.

Since then the parish council has tried to co-opt residents onto the council but this has not been successful.

"It is hoped that by including the village of Shaw Mills in the title of the Parish Council, it will encourage residents to take ownership of the local democracy arrangements in their area and therefore encourage them to join the Parish Council," a report by the borough council says on the matter.

The decision was made unanimously by councillors sitting on the general purposes committee on March 21.

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Coun Atkinson sat out the vote due to a technical conflict of interest, which she was because it was "my idea to change the name".

The Secretary of State, the Ordnance Survey, the Office for National Statistics, the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England and the Registrar General will all be notified of the change.

Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporting Service