The Government has now invited councils in North Yorkshire to submit proposals for unitary local government in the area, officially beginning the process of devolution.
The county’s councils will now have the opportunity to develop and submit their proposals for how they want to restructure local government in their area to establish unitary local government.
This would mean moving from a two-tier system of county and district councils, to a system where there is a single-tier for any given area. In North Yorkshire, this would mean the borough’s seven district councils would be abolished.
Moving to unitary authority with a metro mayor would unlock millions of pounds of additional funding for the area.
The issue of devolution has so far divided North Yorkshire’s council leaders, with rival plans being produced.
The county council favours one large authority for North Yorkshire, with more powers passed on to town and parish councils. City of York Council, itself already a unitary, would be left as it is.
The county’s seven district councils – Scarborough, Harrogate, Ryedale, Craven, Hambleton, Selby and Richmondshire – favor a proposal that would see the county and York split in half to create two authorities of roughly the same population size under one Mayor.
Scarborough, Ryedale, Selby and York would in one authority with Craven, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Harrogate in the other.
By formally inviting them to submit proposals the government has now taken the first step in the legal process towards restructuring. Cumbria and Somerset have also been invited to submit bids for their areas.
Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Councils in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset are already working on developing their locally-led unitary proposals and I am now giving them the opportunity to submit them for consideration.
“Where there is local support, changing the structure of local government can offer better value for money and improved services for residents. We have always been clear that any restructuring of local government must continue to be locally-led and will not involve top-down solutions from government.”
Councils in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset will now have the opportunity to decide whether to develop and submit their locally-led proposals with the aim of any new unitary councils being established in these areas by April 2023.
It will be up to the Local Government Secretary to pick which of the rival bids will go forward for Parliamentary approval to be implemented.
He will assess any locally-led proposal he receives against the longstanding criteria for unitarisation. These are that a proposal should improve the area’s local government, command a good deal of local support across the area and cover an area that provides a credible geography.
The size of any unitary council will be considered, but should always take into account local identity and local geography, as well as economies of scale.
The Government has also re-affirmed the broad principles on local government re-organisation, as set out in a written ministerial statement in July 2019.
The Government added that it will not impose top-down restructuring of local government and will follow a locally-led approach for unitarisation where councils can develop proposals which have strong local support.
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