‘Enough is enough’ as many true Yorkshire folk would say. It is too long since we achieved a repeal of the act of parliament that messed unnecessarily with our county boundaries and organisations. I know you can’t easily unravel such a ball of tangled string but beware of what follows, more false savings, gerrymandering, political posturing and another reorganised North Yorkshire Combined Council.
Changes and Effects Caused by the Act
- South Yorkshire was an invented myth that lingers like the taste of ginger.
- Met Districts became the focus for large authorities with growing power complexes
- Aldermen were killed off and sheriffs were promoted to be high sheriffs and small charter trustees created.
- The new controls were supposed to be a two-tier the system but turned out to be three-tier and like a lot of local government it grew like Topsy. It retained civil parish councils (arguably the most effective of the lot).
- Health care and water supply / sanitation were taken over by separate, non-elected authorities.(A duff abdication of accountability)
- Recognising some errors the 1990’s brought back the East Riding as a reorganised local government authority with new boundary changes.
- Political ducking and diving generated last minute ‘geographical’ changes for Ossett and Rothwell.
- A pound to a penny a reduction in overall cost was not even one of the lesser effects.
North Yorkshire Council Reorganisation 2023
‘A single new council for everyone in North Yorkshire’ will launch on 1 April 2023. It will cover District Councils, in Harrogate, Skipton/Craven, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Selby District and Scarborough. Surprise, surprise it will exclude York City Council which will still be run by the Vikings.
The new council reports it will ‘retain a main office in each former district supported by around 30 additional local customer access points.’ That’s modern economising for you. The foolish mandarins couldn’t have chosen a more suitable day to launch, April 1st. The changes to productivity may be even bigger than the current working from home initiative!)