‘A ‘final’ proposal for creating Scarborough’s new town council could be approved today but not in the way favoured by respondents to a consultation.
After several years, multiple delays, and more than £90,000 worth of consultations, Scarborough and Harrogate’s unparished areas could finally get their own town councils.
A full meeting of North Yorkshire Council today, will decide on the proposals which could see town council elections held in May 2025.
The ‘final’ recommendation would see 15 wards created with one town councillor representing each area.
The wards in Scarborough are set to be:
- Barrowcliff
- Falsgrave
- Gladstone
- Manor Road Park
- North Leas
- Old Town
- Peasholm
- Ramshill
- Sandybed
- Seamer Road
- South Cliff
- The Bay
- Town Centre
- Weaponness
- Woodlands
Public consultations, which had low levels of turnout, supported creating five wards with three elected representatives in each.
A report prepared for Wednesday’s meeting states:
“Multi-member wards could lead to confusion as to who was responsible for what and possibly a scenario of only one member doing all the work for a ward.”
It adds:
“There were concerns that the 295 consultation responses might not reflect the views of the Scarborough population as a whole… the electorate number for the un-parished area of Scarborough is over 28,000.”
The three public consultations for Scarborough and Harrogate have cost the council £92,000.
The costs included printing and postage of two mailings to each household with an information pack and £800 for digital marketing.
In the most recent consultation, 54 per cent of those who responded supported multi-member wards while 42 per cent supported single-member wards, and four per cent said they did not know.
A council report anticipates that the budget of the town council
“could be between £1m and £1.5m per year, which would be funded through a precept added to council tax bills”.
Town councillors would not be paid, however.
A group of Charter Trustees has been carrying out the ceremonial duties of the area in the absence of a town council.
If the plans are approved at the full meeting, council officers will be delegated to implement the decisions including setting the precept for the first year of Scarborough Town Council.
This would take effect from April 2025.
North Yorkshire Council’s full meeting is open to members of the public and will be held at County Hall, Northallerton, starting at 10.30am.
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