Legitimacy of Plans For Creation of a new Scarborough Town Council Questioned

Monday, 10 April 2023 07:00

By Matthew Pells

The legitimacy of plans to create a new town council for Scarborough has been questioned by one of the town's councillors.

A poor response rate to a public consultation on the idea of forming a new town council for parts of Scarborough that don't already have a parish council, has lead councillor Subash Sharma to ask whether there is actually a mandate to create a new authority.

Scarborough's MP has suggested people who don't want a new town council to be created for Scarborough could stand for election to it on a mandate of shutting it down.

Sir Robert Goodwill was responding to the claims that a poor level of response to a public consultation on creating the new body show there isn't a public appetite for a new council.

The process of creating Scarborough Town Council is currently underway with a second round of consultations taking place.

While 69 per cent of respondents to the first survey said they were in favour of the plans, only 2.5 per cent of locals responded to the questionnaire.

The town council is set to be divided into five wards: Castle, Falsgrave and Stepney, Northstead, Weaponness and Ramshill, and Woodlands.

Although town councillors do not get a salary, there is likely to be a precept to fund the body’s work which could include some of the services that were previously provided by Scarborough Borough Council.

Currently, the only parts of North Yorkshire which do not have a parish or town council are Scarborough and Harrogate.