North Yorkshire Council has announced that plans to introduce community partnerships has been backed by members of the executive, with a series of pilots being established prior to county-wide rollout.
Community partnerships are being introduced to ensure that local voices are being heard across the county, with the potential to embrace social and economic change. These partnerships will see the county council working closely with town and parish councils, public sector partners, businesses and communities to make sure that local issues are the driving forces behind decision making and action.
Councillor Carl Les, Council Leader, said:
“We have always said that the council will be centred on ensuring local communities are at the forefront of all that we do.
“The executive’s decision today shows a clear commitment that North Yorkshire Council is being built with local at its heart and that we aim to be the most local, large council in England.
“We are the third largest council in the country and cover the largest geographical area of any local authority nationally.
“The backing for the community partnerships is a major step forward towards bringing together so many different partners and organisations to make sure that people have a stronger voice to tackle those issues that mean the most to them.”
More than 30 partnerships are to be introduced around market towns and their communities, with an initial pilot phase of five partnerships helping to map out of the model that the others will follow. The pilot areas will cover:
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Easingwold
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Leyburn and Middleham
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Ripon
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Sherburn-in-Elmet
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Thornton-le-Dale
The council hopes that the partnerships will lead to increased collaboration and support to make sure that communities are able to become more self-reliant and resilient, whilst they will also operate independently, with the opportunities to elect their own chair. With regard to budgets, partnerships will not receive devolved budgets, however they will be supported to explore new opportunities through sources such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Councillor David Chance, Executive member for stronger communities, said:
“We want to make sure that the model of the community partnerships is right for the areas that they serve.
“The pilot will be so important in achieving this, and we will listen to the view of everyone involved to help develop the partnerships as they are rolled out across the county.
“Nothing will be imposed, as we want to do this with our communities and not simply establish the partnerships without truly involving them.”
