A proposal to spend £100,000 a year supporting North Yorkshire’s town and parish councils to take on additional responsibilities has been rejected.
Opposition parties on North Yorkshire Council (NYC) tabled an amendment to the annual budget proposing more financial support for town and parish councils to take over management of services in their communities.
The double devolution motion was defeated at a full meeting of the authority on Friday, February 13.
Double devolution involves the transfer of powers and assets to town and parish councils and was a tenet for the creation of the NYC unitary authority in 2023.
The proposed amendment to the council’s annual budget, which was tabled by the Liberal Democrat group, stated that the £100,000 would allow “town and parish councils to properly assess and engage with the council on a level playing field”.
The proposer of the motion, Cllr Matt Walker, said: “This is what we were sold this big council on.
“It’s a real shame if we get to the end of our terms and no devolution deals have been done. This is what this big council was set up to do.”
Cllr Heather Phillips, executive member for corporate services, said: “Double devolution is a big part of why we became a unitary authority, and we need to empower our town and parish councils, of which we have 700 or so, the most of any county in the UK.
“Each parish council has a different appetite for taking part in double devolution. If we spend £100,000 a year, which, if we have a couple of officers helping on, would see the money gone, and you might not see an awful lot happen.”
She added: “We’ve had a few bumps along the road when it comes to devolution, and we as councillors should support parish councils with that.”
Last year, Knaresborough became the first town in North Yorkshire to “double devolve” after taking over the running of its market from NYC.
Scarborough Town Council has said it will not accept additional responsibilities unless it receives more money from North Yorkshire Council.
Cllr Andrew Williams, Independent, said: “Having been a member of [Ripon] council for 27 years, I can’t see the benefit in the slightest of the amendment that’s before us.
“All it’s going to do is spend £100,000 on bureaucracy instead of frontline service delivery either by parish councils or NYC.”
Cllr Gareth Dadd, deputy leader of the council, said: “I think we’re all agreeing that we want to be in a position where double devolution is made simple, easier, and more efficient to achieve.
“We’ve got to recognise, in terms of leadership, that we haven’t been as good as we’ve wanted to be. There have been some success stories, but we’ve got to do better, though the answer isn’t throwing £100,000 at it.”
Labour councillor Neil Swannick, who represents Whitby Streonshalh, said that parish councils should be given the resources to further the double devolution project.
He said that when local government reorganisation was originally proposed, he had “difficulties convincing residents in Whitby that it would be to their advantage”.
Cllr Swannick described how residents had told him that “they had spent ‘years being dominated by Scarborough Borough Council, and all we are going to do is swap Scarborough for Northallerton’.
“And I said that’s not the case, because double devolution would be part of the package, and that means potentially taking on assets and services organised by someone else and bringing them down to a local level.
“But that hasn’t happened, and the question is, how do we give it a little boost. I think this £100,000 is a fairly modest way to get the ball rolling in areas that don’t have the capacity.”
Commenting after the motion was defeated, Liberal Democrat, Cllr Peter Lacey, said: “The council had the opportunity today to make a statement in support of double devolution, but sadly failed to take that opportunity.
“Until sufficient resources are made available, the council’s ambition to become the most local in the country is destined for failure.”
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