Tories deny trying to boost political power in North Yorkshire through committee changes

Tory members said their move to replace its traditional district area committees for ones based on constituencies which at the last general election all saw Tory MPs elected aimed to end the era of ‘talking shops’ and embolden local councillors.

In a series of exchanges during a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive, Tory members appeared irritated by accusations of “political gerrymandering” from  Independents group leader Councillor John Blackie. 

The Upper Dales member told the meeting the constitutional shake-up would  remove the Richmondshire Area Committee, the last committee at North Yorkshire County Council – of which 55 of the 72 members are Tory – in which there was shared control between the Independents and the Conservatives.

He said: “These boundaries that you are now going to ride over to put constituency committees haven’t just been drawn on a map, they have evolved.”

Councillor Blackie said the Conservatives’ claim the move was partly inspired by the intention to even out the number of residents represented by the new-look constituency committees was misplaced.

Several of the executive’s members scotched Councillor Blackie’s claims, some of which the Independent member dismissed as “cheap political points”.

The authority’s deputy leader, Councillor Gareth Dadd said in recent years some of the constituencies had been represented by Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, so they did not assume all the committees would always have Conservative majorities. The Thirsk member added the move was about the council devolving power rather than “political gerrymandering”.

Following a unanimous vote to recommend the changes for approval, the Richmondshire Area Committee held its last meeting yesterday, at Scorton War Memorial Institute. Its chairman, Councillor Helen Grant opened the meeting saying: “It’s certainly going to make our presence more remote.”