Double Devolution Could Give Whitby More Local Control

Saturday, 30 July 2022 07:00

By Matthew Pells

Plans for town councils to take on extra responsibilities for some local services have been welcomed in Whitby.

When the borough council is abolished next April it's services will be taken on by the new North Yorkshire unitary Council, but the plans also allow for town councils to take over the running of some local service if they wish.

County Councillor Neil Swannick says that could happen in Whitby.

However town and parish councils are being told there isn't a big pot of cash to help them take over the running of local services.

Whitby Councillor Neil Swannick is concerned the town council doesn't have the resources needed to complete the application process.

Councillor Greg White is North Yorkshire County Council's Executive member for Localities, he says that while there is some help available for town and parish councils who want to apply to run local services, there is no big pool of resource to help with the process, he says the town and parish councils will have to demonstrate they can undertake the work themselves.

There are 731 parishes in North Yorkshire. Some parish councils are known as town councils, but have the same role as a parish council.

The services provided by parish councils vary depending on how large and how active the councils are. Some do not meet very often, and are not very active. Other larger parish councils carry out many duties such as street lighting, managing cemeteries, allotments, commons, village halls, war memorials and markets.

When the proposals for local government reorganisation were put forwards for North Yorkshire, the county council's preferred plan included what was described as “double devolution” to pass greater powers and funding to parish and town councils, for those that wanted it.