NOW that North Yorkshire Councils have received a letter inviting them to put forward proposals regarding local government reorganisation, as the former Leader of Scarborough Borough Council and as a County Councillor, I am of the opinion that to get the best for the people we serve, the County Council should be successful with their bid in creating a new authority.

As a councillor representing Scalby and the Coast I accept if the North Yorkshire County Council are successful with their bid this will create a whole new authority within the curtilage of North Yorkshire and that is a very important point, because the size of the new authority will not be any bigger than it is now, the new unitary authority does not encroach into any neighbouring council.

At the moment NYCC deliver very good services both in adult and child care, which could put lives at risk if such experience is lost in breaking up what is already well respected services.

Other services including education , highways and economic development are all punching well above their weight.

The proposal by the district and borough leaders to create an Eastern Unitary and a Western Unitary is ridiculous to the point that quite rightly the City of York have made it perfectly clear that they do not want to play any part in the Eastern Unitary. Here we have an “ arranged marriage” where one party is totally reluctant to play any part in it, a recipe for disaster for the people we serve and the economy.

Have they considered what will happen to the police, fire and rescue service following the excellent way our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan is running the service, a service that will need splitting in two, expertise and knowledge lost to either or both of the East/ West proposals.

Parish and town councils will be encouraged to take on more responsibilities where there is a desire to do so, step by step with professional support similar to how the libraries transferred into 'local ownership' , no service will be transferred down until thorough checks and balances have been exhausted

I would urge all interested parties to back the county council unitary bid , a bid that will serve the people in a most professional way, and one which will be the most cost effective , a bid that will prove the present NYCC has an excellent track record, a bid that will work with businesses to attract investment, a bid that will set out how it intends to improve the economy, a bid that will show the diverse beauty of the county.

County Councillor Derek Bastiman

Scalby

Scarborough