Scarborough Town Council To Refuse New Responsibilities Without Funding Increase

Scarborough Town Council has said it will not accept additional responsibilities unless it receives more money from North Yorkshire Council.

Scarborough Town Council has voted against taking on services or responsibilities from North Yorkshire Council “without a commensurate transfer of funding”, after a motion was passed at a meeting, last week.

A pilot project is currently underway across North Yorkshire with a small number of parish councils choosing to take over hyper local services like public toilets or park benches. The process has been dubbed "Double Devolution" and has involved the local town or parish council's identifying which services they would like to manage locally and then making an application to North Yorkshire Council to take over the service.

Scarborough Town Councillor William Stewart says he doesn't want to see service costs "shifted" to the town council.

"North Yorkshire Council have already raised its share of council's tax this year by the maximum that it was allowed, which is 4.99%. Now, in addition to that, council taxpayers in Scarborough are paying £28.88 a year extra for the precept for what we are here.

There is talk some of the services that North Yorkshire Council provided. Might be moved into the precept that we pay that £28.88, and this is about saying that we have to be very careful with what additional costs we take on from North Yorkshire Council, any cost shifting represents in practice an additional increase for Scarborough residents

This motion says clearly that Scarborough Town Council will only accept service transfers if they come with proper sustainable funding, we'll not allow cost shifting to push residents bills up through the back door.

Opposition councillors argued that the decision would limit the ability of the recently created town council – which has a Band D precept of £28.88 – to create change for residents.

Councillor Rich Maw felt the motion wasn't needed and restricts what the town council can do.

"It feels like an attempt to tie our own hands behind our backs before we've even begun.

This is a brand new council starting from scratch. We don't have reserves, we don't have legacy assets. Every pound we raise is essential, not for excess, but simply to function.

Take the Harbour Committee. It exists because Scarborough Harbour is at the very heart of our identity and our economy. But what can we actually do for Harbour users? If we pass this motion?

This motion commits us to austerity before we've even delivered on a single project.

If our first act is to freeze revenue and lock out any future ambition, we risk losing public trust."

Coun Murray, a member of the leading Reform group, disputed that the policy would “tie our hands in terms of spending” and said that it was “about protecting our taxpayers in Scarborough against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis”.

The policy, which was passed on Wednesday, states:

“Scarborough Town Council will work constructively with NYC to explore opportunities for efficient, local delivery of appropriate services, while ensuring such arrangements are financially sustainable and within legal thresholds.”

Across North Yorkshire just six pilot projects were approved as part of the Double Devolution system all of which were instigated by the town or parish council involved.

• Malton – Management of the Malton Market Place public toilet facilities, including cleaning and maintenance.
• Northallerton and Thirsk – Management of the markets in the towns of Northallerton and Thirsk, as a collaborative venture between two Town Councils.
• Filey – Management of the public benches within the town of Filey.
• Knaresborough – Management of the markets and the storage facility and assets associated with managing the market (i.e. road closure signs/tables, etc). Skipton – Management of Skipton Town Hall Car Park toilet block, the Ginnel Woods and the Canal Basin.
• Whitby – Provision and management of parks and grounds maintenance and floral displays excluding highways verges including Pannett Park, the plant and equipment, including depot space associated with these services.

The Malton toilets project was withdrawn after public reaction to plans to introduce a 40p charge to use the town's conveniences.