Overview Committee to monitor creation of council

A NEW committee of councillors is to be established to scrutinise the creation of the new North Yorkshire Council linked to devolution plans for the region.

A huge shake-up of local government is seeing the current county council and seven district and borough councils being replaced with a single unitary authority from next April.

Councillors have already been elected to the existing county council on the basis of the new model.

Next week, senior councillors will be asked to back the creation of an overview and scrutiny committee which will be dedicated to analysing decisions related to local government reorganisation.

A paper which will be considered by North Yorkshire County Council’s executive on Tuesday next week has set out the plans for the new committee.

The county council’s leader, Councillor Carl Les, said: “The move to a new council for North Yorkshire represents a landmark in how services will be provided for the public as well as the governance of these services.

“It is a huge task, but it is one which we are committed to and ensure that there is a smooth transition to the new authority.

“The chance to introduce a new overview and scrutiny committee will provide the opportunity to monitor the succession of key decisions which will be made ahead of the launch of North Yorkshire Council. We have made a commitment to the public that the process will be conducted in an open and transparent manner, and the proposed committee will be a key part of ensuring that this is the case.”

The proposals would see the new committee meeting every six to eight weeks from the end of July until at least March next year.