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The Peculiar Case of Parish Councils in North Yorkshire

Sunday, 27 October 2024 06:00

It's emerged that North Yorkshire is unique in the UK for its unusually high number of parish and town councils.

With 664 such councils, it boasts twice the amount of the next nearest council, Somerset Council. This fact alone makes North Yorkshire an outlier, given that 97.5% of councils across England have fewer than 200 parish councils, and over half have less than 30.

This abundance of parish and town councils places a significant responsibility on North Yorkshire Council in terms of liaison and support. The sheer scale of this network of local governance structures is something that wasn't fully anticipated when North Yorkshire Council was established.

Within North Yorkshire, 74% of these councils are classified as town or parish councils. A further 24% are parish meetings, while the remaining 1.8% are categorized as 'groups'. These groups exist in only two specific areas within North Yorkshire.

Mark Codman is North Yorkshire Council's Parish Liaison and Local Devolution Manager:

However, it's important to note that not all councils in this area charge a precept. In fact, 27.6% of town/parish councils in Scarborough and Whitby don't levy a precept at all, which is 2% higher than the North Yorkshire average. The reasons for this discrepancy in precept charges between Scarborough and Whitby and the rest of North Yorkshire aren't immediately clear from the sources. Further investigation into the specific services provided, the financial needs of individual councils, and the demographics of the areas they serve would be required to fully understand this disparity.

Mark added more details on Scarborough & Whitby specifically:

Overall, North Yorkshire presents a fascinating case study in the complexities of local governance. Its unusually high number of parish and town councils, coupled with the variations in precept charges between different areas like Scarborough and Whitby, raises questions about the equitable distribution of resources and the financial burden on residents.

 

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