Scarborough Town Council Plans Delayed by Prospect of Third Consultation

The creation of a Town Council for Scarborough could be delayed by up to a year.

North Yorkshire Councillors yesterday backed a motion calling for the new town council to have 15 wards, each represented by a single councillor.

Two previous public consultations about plans to create the new town council had received support for a plan that used Scarborough's existing five wards, with each ward having three councillors.

The change means a further public consultation may now be needed.

Speaking at yesterday's full council meeting Scarborough Councillor - Liz Colling - was dismayed by the change.

In January, the authority’s executive committee approved plans for a Scarborough Town Council which would be divided into five wards covering currently unparished areas: Castle, Falsgrave and Stepney, Northstead, Weaponness and Ramshill, and Woodlands.

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

A consultation found that a majority of respondents were in favour of having three representatives for each ward – 15 in total – but North Yorkshire councillors have now voted in favour of a proposal that could lead to 15 wards with one councillor representing each area.

Whilst the creation of 19 single-member wards in Harrogate would be based on the pattern used for the former Harrogate Borough Council, the creation of 15 single-member wards in Scarborough would require each of the existing five divisions to be divided into three new equal size wards.

The council has said that a further consultation exercise should be undertaken to reflect this desire to change the warding, which would likely delay the implementation date to April 2025.

Esk Valley and Coast Councillor, Clive Pearson, is chair of the Standards and governance Committee which looked at the proposals for the creation of the new town councils for both Scarborough and Harrogate, he explained why they were now recommending changing the ward arrangements for Scarborough from five to fifteen wards.

Eastfield Councillor Tony Randerson is not impressed by the change and the delay it will cause.

Concerns about the extra time it will take to draw up the new 15 ward boundaries and consult on the changes were voiced by Councillor Philip Broadbank who says Scarborough could be disadvantaged if it doesn't have it's own town council

Councillor Monika Slater expressed frustration that there have already been two public consultations about the changes which received backing from the public.

There were a number of councillors who expressed views supporting the idea of reconsidering the ward boundaries, Councillor Nigel Knapton thinks having five wards with three councillors in each isn't the best model.

But Councillor Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff who represents the Hunmanby and Sherburn Division said,

"At a time when our residents are worried about whether or not they can pay their bills, North Yorkshire Conservatives are wasting taxpayers money on this self indulgence nonsense."

"Council Tax is already too high in North Yorkshire and we should not be wasting public money on silly inconsequential consultations such as this. Taxpayers simply can't afford to be indulging out of touch Councillors in this manner" 

North Yorkshire Independents group leader - Councillor Stuart Parsons - said that if the local Scarborough Councillors wanted the five ward system and the public had backed it though the previous consultations then it should be allowed to go ahead without further alterations.

Despite objections, the new recommendations were passed with 49 votes in favour and 32 against and the council resolved to undertake a further consultation exercise which will be considered by a future council meeting.