A council accused of neglecting a town centre’s conservation area to the extent that many of its cobbles present a risk to public safety looks set to withdraw its offer to fund essential repairs.
Hambleton District Council’s cabinet will next week consider a recommendation to cancel the £111,000 grant offer it made to Stokesley Town Council in 2018 to carry out remedial works to the cobbled areas.
The proposed move follows a long-running and escalating dispute between the councils over the appropriate level of maintenance for the cobbles.
Earlier this year Stokesley councillors told the a meeting of Hambleton council that its neglect of Stokesley over many years had led to many of the town centre cobbles becoming loose and dangerous and that since the grant offer was made the cost of repairs to the cobbles had soared to £215,000.
Councillor Andy Wake said the district ccouncil’s care for the large piece of land in Stokesley’s conservation area amounted to “plugging a hole with a bit of tarmac, plonking cobble on top, patting it down and giving it a quick tap”.
In response, the district council’s deputy leader, Councillor Peter Wilkinson, said the lease that Hambleton entered in 1999 with the town council for the area of cobbles gave joint responsibility for its maintenance.
In July, the town council invited the district council to enter a formal arbitration process over the grant.
A report to a meeting of Hambleton’s cabinet states the council rejected the dispute resolution offer as its decision to dismiss a request to increase the grant to £215,000 had been properly made.
An officers’ report to the meeting states: “Given the limited time remaining until vesting date on March 31, the lack of progress and impasse and the competing pressures on officer time, it is suggested that the grant offer be withdrawn and the matter be left to the new council to determine.”
It said the withdrawl of the grant offer would be “an appropriate course of action” because the new North Yorkshire Council’s highway department may wish to consider whether there are any wider traffic management issues related to the cobbles.
The report also stated North Yorkshire Council may also wish to consider the matter in the context of its “double devolution” initiative which could
see the responsibilities for certain services and assets passed to town and parish councils.
The report states: “It is understood that Stokesley Town Council have already expressed an interest in working on a pilot of what “double devolution could look like”, so taking back responsibility for the town centre cobbles could fit with this work.”
Hambleton council has since written to Stokesley council asking for a decision over whether it would accept the original grant offer of £111,000.
Several Stokesley councillors said they did not wish to comment ahead of the meeting and a town council spokeswoman said it was preparing a response to the district council ahead of the meeting.
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