Harrogate voters look ahead to a mouse of an election which may eventually end up in a roar

With only days until the polls open, the Lib Dems are looking to build on their sweeping successes of recent years while the Tories are intent on putting a halt to a losing streak, as well as thwarting the challenge of Reform UK.

In a way the question of who wins is less important than what role they are able to play, for the moment, at least.

These are early days after the quiet political earthquake of local devolution in April 2023 which saw the abolition of Harrogate Borough Council and the creation of new unitary authority North Yorkshire Council, leaving Harrogate in the hands of a new, more powerful Northallerton.

North Yorkshire Council leaders have been committed from the outset to taking “double devolution” by addressing the issue of Harrogate and Scarborough; the only two areas within the new unitary authority without a parish or town council.

But the new Harrogate Town Council's initial budget for 2025/26 of £362,000 suggests a cautious approach to the powers and role of Harrogate Town Council.

It may sound a big figure but it’s built on a precept charge of £12.73 per Band D property to council tax payers in Harrogate.

It’s also a smaller sum than Harrogate’s existing Business Improvement District (BID) spend each year on supporting the town centre’s economy.

Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, Selby Town Council can boast an annual budget almost three times the size of Harrogate’s for 2024/25 - £908,183.

Once the new Harrogate Town Council has covered costs like staffing, running expenses and initial set-up fees, it’s likely the newly-elected councillors will have just £100,000 approximately to actually do something with.

Despite this, the four biggest parties fielding candidates in 19 wards next week – Lib Dem, Tory, Green and Reform UK – are clearly taking the battle for control of Harrogate Town Council seriously, sufficiently, that is, to share a lot of the same messages:

Providing a voice for Harrogate

Improving the town centre

Protecting or gaining control of Harrogate’s assets such as the Royal Baths

Improving transport links in the town

But the differences of tone are there for anyone who cares to listen.

The Lib Dems are focusing on ensuring “North Yorkshire Council stops neglecting our town”, pointing out that, if the newly created Harrogate Town Council is to have its own voice, it makes no sense for that to be a Tory one on the same wavelength as the Tory-run North Yorkshire Council.

The Tories, meanwhile, are emphasising the importance of ”keeping the town council’s costs to a minimum” and working with North Yorkshire Council.

Reform UK want to “reclaim the town’s assets for the benefit of all residents” while the Greens are passionate about supporting "safer streets” and "active travel”.

Rather than looking to the result of last year’s General Election which saw the Lib Dem’s Tom Gordon elected MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough on a large swing from the Tories, Reform UK are keen to play on national opinion polls which show them now breathing down the neck of Labour.

The fact all the parties, save for Labour, are putting so much effort on the doorsteps in a contest, which like all local authority elections, is expected to produce a low turnout, indicates their belief that, at some point in the future, Harrogate Town Council will matter.

The potential for it to play an important role on behalf of a town whose population of 76,000, approximately, easily dwarfs that of Scarborough, Selby, Skipton and, indeed, Northallerton is there just beneath the surface.

Even if the precept charge to Harrogate council tax payers was to rise by just £2, that would add up to a significant increase in not only the budget but scope of operation for Harrogate Town Council.

The result of next week’s election may determine whether Harrogate is going to find a voice of its own or not.