Two Yorkshire Coast Councillors Appointed As Chair And Vice-Chair Of North Yorkshire Council

Two Yorkshire Coast councillors have taken the helm at North Yorkshire Council, with Councillor David Chance elected as the new chair and Councillor John Ritchie appointed as vice-chair ahead of next year's elections.

Two Yorkshire Coast councillors have been appointed to the top civic roles at North Yorkshire Council, with Councillor David Chance elected as chair and Councillor John Ritchie taking up the position of vice-chair.

Members voted Councillor Chance into the role during the authority’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, May 20, making him the fourth chair of the council.

He succeeds Councillor George Jabbour, who held the position for the past year, and will serve in the role for the next twelve months. This term will lead up to May next year, when the first all-out elections will be held since the launch of North Yorkshire Council in April 2023.

Councillor Ritchie, who represents the Woodlands division on the council, was appointed to support him as the authority's vice-chair.

Councillor David Chance said:

"It is an honour to take on the role of the new chair of the council, especially during such an important 12 months for the authority.

The all-out elections which will be held on May 6 next year will be the first since North Yorkshire Council launched in 2023, giving our voters the chance to shape the future of the authority and the county as a whole.

I will use my time as the new chair to help to promote the work of the council and to make sure that local democracy operates as effectively as possible to serve all of our residents and businesses across North Yorkshire."

Councillor Chance brings a wealth of experience to the role, having served as a local representative for fifteen years. He was first elected to the former Scarborough Borough Council in May 2011.

The following year, he was given the tourism and culture portfolio on the borough council, a role he held until 2015. He was then elected to represent the Whitby and Mayfield-cum-Mulgrave division on the former North Yorkshire County Council in 2013.

In May 2015, he was appointed to the former county council’s executive as the member for stronger communities and public health. He remained on the executive in various roles until May 2024, following the launch of the new unitary North Yorkshire Council the previous year.

He was re-elected in May 2022 as the member for the new Danby and Mulgrave division on North Yorkshire Council.

Councillor Chance has also been heavily involved in local organisations across the Yorkshire Coast. He served as a member of the North York Moors National Park Authority between 2013 and 2015.

He was a board member of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough from 2012 to 2015, which was followed by a second stint from 2022 until the present. Additionally, he was a board member of the town’s creative industries centre, now called Woodend Gallery and Studios, from 2012 to 2015.

He initially represented North Yorkshire County Council, and then North Yorkshire Council, on the North Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority since 2016, where he currently serves as vice-chair.

Brought up in the village of Ugthorpe, near Whitby, Councillor Chance started his career in tourism and entertainment in Whitby, Scarborough, and Teesside. He later worked for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977.

After leaving that role, he went back to local government in Ayr in Scotland for eleven years before going on to be the head of arts, entertainment, and tourist services in Cambridge.

He then became the director of tourism for the Ayrshire and Burns Country Tourist Board before setting up his own business in 1995 to represent actors and directors in film, television, theatre, radio, and commercials, before finally retiring in 2020.