Plans for new Scarborough Town Council move forward with second consultation

At a meeting on Tuesday, January 10, members of the NYCC executive committee voted in favour of progressing plans to create a new parish council in Scarborough which would cover the town’s currently unparished areas.

The parish council – which would be known as Scarborough Town Council – is set to be divided into five wards: Castle, Falsgrave and Stepney, Northstead, Weaponness and Ramshill, and Woodlands.

The approved draft recommendations will now proceed to a second round of public consultations

Speaking at the meeting, Kerry Russell, head of democratic services at Scarborough Council said that “a very thorough” consultation had already been conducted and said that responses were largely in support of creating a parish council with similar responses in both Scarborough and Harrogate.

Ms Russell added that the responses formed “a solid basis” for the draft recommendations.

However, concerns have been raised that though 69 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of the plans, only 2.5 per cent of locals responded to the questionnaire.

The draft recommendations include the division of the parish council into five wards, plans for it to be called Scarborough Town Council, as well as proposing the number of councillors that should be elected.

Cllr Derek Bastiman, a member of the NYCC executive committee, said: “I do feel that the suggested number of 10 councillors for the proposed Scarborough Town Council should be 15, ie three per division or member ward.

“I think that would give far better coverage and a chance of delivering a good service for the people of Scarborough.”

Attending the meeting, Cllr Liz Colling, a cabinet member on Scarborough Council, said she agreed with Cllr Bastiman that the number of town councillors that would be elected to the proposed body should be 15 in total.

Cllr Colling said: “I believe that 10 councillors is insufficient.

"If we are the achieve the ambition of double devolution, then there need to be enough councillors in order to ensure a diversity of views.”

She noted that many parish councils have to co-opt members as not enough people stand for election, but stated that “that is not a reason for us to under populate a new town council at inception”.

Also attending the meeting, Cllr Janet Jefferson and Cllr Tony Randerson said they agreed with both Cllr Colling and Cllr Bastiman in terms of having three parish councillors per ward.

The draft recommendations were approved with the amended recommendation for 15 parish councillors and will progress to a second, more detailed consultation.

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

NYCC has said it means the areas “have limited ability” to take on subsequent additional responsibilities after April’s local government reorganisation – the biggest shake-up in nearly 50 years, which will see the creation of a new North Yorkshire Council.