Harrogate calls grow for strong local voice after borough council is abolished in 2023

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In a week which has seen the troubled Government attempt to resurrect the idea of ‘levelling up’ - with a renewed focus on local devolution - Harrogate Borough Council confirmed that one of its last acts before it is scrapped in 2023 is likely to be the submission of a request for the formation of a Harrogate Town Council.

While North Yorkshire County Council once has left the door open for the creation of such a body, after Harrogate council's 47-year history of running key services in Harrogate comes to an end in April 2023, there is no word yet on its budget, its make-up or its powers.

But Harrogate council’s support for idea of the creation of a new voice for the town under Government-supported plans for regional devolution is likely to find favour across the board in the town as the date of this May’s elections for councillors on the new North Yorkshire County Council 'super authority' draws near.

Martin Gerrard, Harrogate Chamber of Commerce President, said recent events involving controversial matters such as the Harrogate Gateway project showed it was vital the town retained a local voice.

“Recent decisions just add further importance to Harrogate being represented properly going forward by elected members who put the town, and those whom work and live within it, first.”

The Harrogate Civic Society has also reiterated its call for significant local powers to ensure the preservation of the town’s ‘crown jewels’ such as the Stray, Royal Hall and Valley Gardens.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is looking forward to its new role as a unitary authority with the promise of extra powers, greater cost efficiencies and more government investment in the region, is on the record as welcoming the idea of new town councils in areas of the county which currently lack one like Harrogate.

But, whatever happens in the months to come, it’s unlikely the new 'super authority', having taking on the duties and powers of the district councils being scrapped, would simply hand them all back again to town councils.

Coun Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council, believes that a new town council is inevitable after Northallerton takes over its services next year but urged caution on how a Harrogate Town Council would operate and warned of the risk it might become merely a political talking shop.

“I can see advantages to the idea but the important thing for residents is what a Harrogate Town Council would do,” Coun Cooper said.

“Where we have seen party politics come into parish councils I don’t think they have served residents well - not in the way they were intended to at least.”

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