North Yorkshire Council move to strengthen area committees

The move comes after the Conservative-run administration was accused of dragging its feet on the issue.

Liberal Democrats councillors on the authority claim that residents in North Yorkshire increasingly feel decisions are being taken too far away from the communities they affect, despite promises the authority would become “the most local large council in England” when it launched in 2023.

North Yorkshire Council has six area committees covering different parts of the county, with 26 existing powers intended to allow more decisions to be taken locally.

However, Liberal Democrats argue that many of those powers are not being used, leaving too many decisions centralised and remote from local communities.

Opposition leader Councillor Peter Lacey first brought forward proposals last November aimed at giving area committees more influence.

He was also due to bring a motion on the issue at this week’s full council meeting.

But the motion was withdrawn after the leader, Councillor Carl Les, confirmed the proposal would be looked at.

Cllr Les told the meeting: “Before Cllr Lacy proposed his motion, I had intended to start such discussions initially with area chairs and vice chairs and then the wider council, working with relevant officers and Councillor Heather Phillips as corporate portfolio holder.”

He later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Unfortunately, Cllr Lacey’s motion jumped the gun and I had to wait for that to run its course before continuing.

“I will now hold discussions with the relevant people and start to develop some ideas for the final year of this council and, more importantly, some suggestions for how the next council might want to conduct business at a local level.”

Following the meeting, Councillor Peter Lacey said: “Residents were promised the most local large council in England, but what many people feel they have got instead is a giant county council where decisions are increasingly remote from local communities.

“Across North Yorkshire, people feel decisions affecting their towns and villages are being taken too far away by people who do not understand local circumstances.

“The cleanest way to fix that is to properly empower area committees, because the powers already exist.

“Instead, the Conservative administration has spent seven months dragging its feet while these proposals were bounced around committees.”