Council is accused of breaching rules with single authority fight

CONCERNS HAVE been raised about North Yorkshire County Council using taxpayer resources to push its vision of creating a single council authority in a potential breach of the Government’s code of practice.

Last week six of the county’s district councils took the matter of North Yorkshire’s use of council staff and social media platforms as part of its campaign over proposed local government reorganisation in the county to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned.

But North Yorkshire County Council’s leader denied any wrongdoing and says the authority has stuck to the guidance.

The ministry has now confirmed it has written to all of the parties involved “reminding” them to abide by the regulations.

The row comes after an eightweek consultation began into a proposed reorganisation in the county that will see seven district councils scrapped and replaced with a unitary structure.

North Yorkshire County Council has submitted a proposal for one authority covering the whole county, while six of the district leaders want two authorities that split the county in half with York merged into an authority with Ryedale, Selby and Scarborough.

Harrogate, Craven, Richmondshire and Hambleton would make up the other half.

Guidance from the Government states that “local authorities should not use public funds to mount publicity campaigns whose primary purpose is to persuade the public to hold a particular view on a question of policy”.

The six district councils proposing the so-called East/West split sought clarification from the Government on whether the communications from North Yorkshire County Council breached this guidance.

These included a press release issued by the authority, a press conference organised with involvement of county council communications staff, social media posts and comments in a residents’ newsletter by county chief executive Richard Flinton.

Coun Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “I maintain that we have followed the code of publicity.”

A spokesman for MHCLG declined to comment on NYCC’s publicity.