Stronger Together to make the most of our money
Expert analysis of the financial case for a single, strong and sustainable new council, serving every person in North Yorkshire, reveals it could deliver up to £ 252 million in savings over five years to support crucial frontline services at a critical time.
The single new council model would end duplication in just a few months, saving £ 30m a year by cutting red tape and reducing senior management and elected member costs. These are the findings of independent accountancy firm PWC, using an established financial model. The savings figure reflects immediate benefits from bringing eight councils together and the value of delivering strengthened public services.
The county council’s proposal is estimated to save an initial £ 30m a year simply as a result of restructuring. In addition, by using the new council as a springboard for change this saving could rise to between £ 50m and £ 67m a year, netting up to £ 252m at the end of the first five years.
Cllr Gareth Dadd, the County Council’s Executive Member for Resources and Deputy
Leader, said: “As we battle to emerge from the devastating impacts of the pandemic, this is a unique chance to deliver very significant savings that will be ploughed back into frontline services, support enhanced local democracy and end unnecessary waste.
“Our proposal represents a saving of up to £ 185 a year for every household in North Yorkshire, which would be put back into service delivery. It would be negligent of us to not to chase down such an opportunity.
“No other bid can deliver the scale of savings in such a timeframe, while protecting nationally recognised services for the county’s most frail and vulnerable residents.”
PWC also modelled other options, including that put forward by the seven district councils, which purpose an east/ west split of the county, which also draws in the City of York. This option also offers savings, but considerably less at 60% of the county’s proposal over five years. It also involves higher costs given the level of disruption, so it would take almost two years for these savings to be realised.