Rural powerhouse

North Yorkshire’s opportunity

RISHI SUNAK’S winter jobs plan will have particular resonance in North Yorkshire after his Richmond constituency was identified as being the most susceptible to the Covid- 19 recession because of its reliance on hospitality and tourism for employment opportunities.

Yet, as the Chancellor was addressing Parliament and extending tourism’s lower rate of VAT, local leaders were again at loggerheads over devolution with Paul Shevlin, chief executive of Craven District Council, suggesting that now is a “terrible time” to be overhauling local government.

And while some will sympathise, it can – conversely – be argued that there has never been a more opportune moment to shake- up the provision of council services, and create one or, possibly, two elected mayors tasked with turning North Yorkshire into the rural powerhouse.

The reasons are this. The Government has a mandate to deliver localised devolution deals – and regrettably at the expense of the One Yorkshire model favoured by so many. This is now widely accepted.

It’s also clear that the North – including this county’s rural heartlands – will be Whitehall’s ‘ poor relation’ unless they embrace the Government’s devolution agendas. This is the reality.

And, at the same time, council leaders and officials across North Yorkshire, England’s largest county, should already be leading a joint response to Covid- 19 and other challenges facing the rural economy. This is the here and now – it’s what local residents expect – and any delay now will simply risk North Yorkshire being even more marginalised and disadvantaged in the future.