Where do Harrogate voters interests lie in devolution shake-up for North Yorkshire

Councils in North Yorkshire have only a few weeks now to submit their ‘asks’ from a devolution deal that would see new powers and millions of pounds in funding handed over from Westminster to a new ‘super mayor’ across the region and two new ‘unitary authorities’ running council services below it.

With many district councils, including Harrogate’s, set to bite the dust in the biggest shake-up of local government since 1974, it’s no surprise that a tit-for-tat battle has broken out at times between different councils and political parties.

But it isn’t just the future of councillors at stake as the Government seeks to encourage economic recovery and ‘level up’ the North-South divide as a matter of urgency.

It’s also the future of the services tax payers receive and the staff employed to deliver them.

Weighing up what is in the best interests of Harrogate and district is causing divisions with all side convinced they can deliver the best deal for voters in time for the new authority structure and elections to take place by April 2022 to meet the Government’s timetable.

Any proposal must secure the support of at least one council for it to be placed before the Government at all.

North Yorkshire County was first out of the blocks on the subject and is still quietly regarded as the front runner.

It has argued from the start in favour of a super-size North Yorkshire County Council serving 600,000 residents – whilst leaving City of York and its population of around 200,000 intact

County council leader, Councillor Carl Les, said the aim was to protect the outcomes for key services and to benefit council taxpayers, while retaining local decision-making and engagement with communities.

North Yorkshire County Council says there are five ways its vision of devolution would help Harrogate district:

1 Simplifying local government – one single council overseeing all services with one set of councillors and one single contact number for all Harrogate area residents, increasing accountability.

2 Delivery of very significant financial savings by ending duplication and better joining up services. It estimates savings in excess of £25m every year by removing back office and management duplication and streamlining services. There would then be more money to put into frontline services or community priorities in the Harrogate area.

3. A new and stronger local approach that boosts grassroots level decision-making. town and parish councils would be able to take on additional powers and budget if they want them – such as control of markets and street trading; management of their parks and open spaces; leisure and tourism, arts and culture.

4. The characteristics of Harrogate town and the district’s market towns and rural hinterland are best represented by having a strong single voice in a mayoral combined authority which will champion their interests at the sub-regional, regional and national level.

5. A single North Yorkshire council will deliver maximum benefits with minimum disruption to all communities and areas such as Harrogate by protecting and strengthening high-quality frontline services such as the acclaimed joint working between health and social care in the Harrogate Rural Alliance and outstanding children’s services which benefit all children and families across the Harrogate area.

But Harrogate Borough Council argues that, though it is supportive of the whole process, the county council’s option would leave Harrogate the poor relation in political terms despite its relative importance in the county.

It believes the region should be divided into two new councils of roughly equal size of 400,00 people in terms of population; one in which Harrogate would have more influence over its own affairs.

Harrogate Borough Council leader Coun Richard Cooper said: “A giant North Yorkshire council running all our services from Northallerton will be a monster compared to its minnow neighbour – the City of York Council.

“It will make the new Mayor’s job a nightmare as she or he tries to allocate funding equitable across the patch.”

Instead, Harrogate council is pushing for some of the smaller districts to come together.

Although their final submission has yet to be announced, Coun Cooper said the best scenario for Harrogate residents was a “East-West option.”

This would see a western council containing Harrogate, Craven, Hambleton and Richmondshire plus an eastern council including York, Selby, Ryedale and Scarborough.

Local Government Minister Simon Clarke is on record as saying he would not reject an authority of the size suggested by North Yorkshire County Council.

But no one really knows which way the Government will ultimately swing.

In fact, it has yet to announce when it wants bids to be submitted, but a deadline is anticipated as soon as September.

Despite its own sense of being in a hurry during the Covid emergency, there would still have to be public consultation on the option it eventually chooses.

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