On the 1st of April 2023, the new North Yorkshire Council will replace the eight councils currently delivering your public services across the county. They want to find out what really matters to you.
The public are given chance to help shape future of devolution.
Hundreds of thousands of people across York and North Yorkshire are being given the chance to help to shape the region’s economic future that could bring benefits for generations to come.
A major consultation is being launched today (Friday, October 21) to give residents, community groups and businesses as well as academic institutions, charities and voluntary organisations the chance to share their views on a much-anticipated proposed devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire.
The draft deal offers devolved powers and millions of pounds in funding to provide better roads and public transport, improve education and job opportunities, boost economic growth and places York and North Yorkshire at the forefront of the green energy sector to tackle climate change.
Residents are also set to be given the chance to elect a mayor to champion the region at a national level and to help to ensure the Government delivers on commitments to level up opportunities in York and North Yorkshire.
The planned 30-year deal has the potential to bring wide-ranging benefits for future generations to tackle regional inequalities by not only reducing the North-South divide nationally, but also helping to resolve economic differences between urban and rural areas.
North Yorkshire County Council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “Today marks an important milestone for the journey towards us securing a devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire.
“We really need the public to come forward and give us their views on what is important to them and how devolution can benefit communities and businesses across York and North Yorkshire.
“The chance to secure these decision-making powers and millions of pounds in funding from the Government is set to prove a life-changing opportunity for more than 800,000 people who live and work in York and North Yorkshire.
“Devolution will give local leaders the chance to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing people in York and North Yorkshire – whether that be providing more affordable housing, improving skills and education for better job opportunities, boosting transport infrastructure or tackling the climate crisis.
“This is about creating a brighter and more prosperous future for us all, and I would urge the vitally important business sector in North Yorkshire to come forward in particular, as business owners and entrepreneurs will be key in shaping the economy with the benefits of devolution.”
City of York Council’s leader, Cllr Keith Aspden, added: “Given the levels of funding and devolved powers on offer, devolution presents a real opportunity for York not just to secure investment, but also to have greater influence over matters that our communities care about.
“The timing of this proposed deal could not be more important, giving us the opportunity to unlock 30 years of investment to improve economic prosperity, education and transport as well as work towards becoming the first carbon negative region in the country.
“In the next seven weeks, I hope residents and businesses will take the opportunity to engage in this momentous decision for York and North Yorkshire, sharing their views on the full range of proposals.”
Devolution is a key policy of the Government, handing over decision-making powers to local political leaders and providing millions of pounds in funding to shape hugely important policies and projects on a regional level.
The mayor, who would be elected in May 2024 if the proposed deal comes to fruition, would lead a new powerful combined authority that would oversee key strategic projects ranging from major transport improvements to providing more affordable housing and boosting skills and education for York and North Yorkshire.
Politicians and senior officers from City of York Council as well as North Yorkshire County Council and district and borough authorities undertook detailed negotiations with the Government to draw up the proposed devolution deal, which was unveiled on the annual Yorkshire Day celebrations on August 1. The chairwoman of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Helen Simpson OBE, said: “This is a historic moment for York and North Yorkshire
and creates the opportunity to deliver long-term investment to support business growth.
“I’d like to invite business leaders across the region to contribute to this consultation.
“We need to ensure the business voice is heard and that this investment is unlocked to deliver the new jobs and growth across our great region.”
A mayoral combined authority would mirror similar arrangements that are already in place in areas including the Tees Valley and West Yorkshire.
Key areas of focus for the new mayoral combined authority would include unlocking additional investment for the region and supporting businesses as well as growing the economy and improving employment opportunities.
The combined authority would also oversee projects to build better digital and transport connections, along with providing more affordable housing and supporting action to reduce harmful carbon emissions, which contribute to climate change.
Councils representing the City of York and North Yorkshire will remain, working to deliver vital services to residents.
A submission to pursue a devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire was submitted to the Government in 2020, and formal negotiations began at the start of this year. To find out more about the proposed devolution deal and to take part in the consultation, which runs until Friday, December 16, visit www.ynydevolution.com
The Parish Council would encourage residents to take part in this survey. Please can you share this with others as it is important that everyone is aware of this and has the opportunity to complete the survey. This will formulate the new scheme from April 2023.
NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Council Tax Reduction Consultation. Please take part.
A new Council Tax Reduction Scheme for North Yorkshire Council
From next year there will be a new single council in North Yorkshire. The new North Yorkshire Council will replace the seven district and borough councils as well as the county council. All eight councils are working together to make sure that the services people value continue as usual when North Yorkshire Council comes into being on 1 April 2023.
Having one council means services can be strengthened and joined up to improve the quality of life and opportunities for people across North Yorkshire. It will also save money by reducing duplication to put back into frontline services and support local priorities and decision-making.
Currently the seven borough and district councils all have slightly different Council Tax Reduction schemes, and by law North Yorkshire Council must introduce a single scheme covering the whole of the North Yorkshire area. Council Tax Reduction is a discount that helps people on low incomes pay their Council Tax bill. The proposal is to introduce an income banded scheme that is more supportive, with the maximum level of reduction for the people most in need.
The changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme will affect working age households in the North Yorkshire area who will get Council Tax Reduction from 1 April 2023. Pension age households will not see any change as the scheme to support this group is set out by Central Government.
Most applicants will get the same support as they do now and many will be better off. Although some households will have a little more to pay, the proposals set out plans for a hardship fund so that anyone affected who needs additional help will be supported. People are invited to share their views on the proposed changes as part of a consultation.
A link to take part in the consultation and more detailed information can be found at www.northyorks.gov.uk/CouncilTaxReduction. The consultation will close at midnight on 18 September 2022. All comments and feedback will be considered in October, before a final decision is made in November.
The programme is being ran by North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Sport and referrals can be made direct to the scheme. Please share as you feel appropriate.
Stepping up is an early intervention and prevention programme for young people beginning to show signs of engaging in risky behaviour. This may be appearing at School, Home or within the local community. Stepping Up draws on a young persons strengths and interests. There are two strands to Stepping up and a young person can engage in both or just one dependent on need. The first is that a young person will receive mentoring from one of our mentors. Our mentors will work with a young person to raise aspiration, motivation, confidence and look to develop an action plan to support the development of that young persons skills. Initially a young person will have 4 sessions booked in and then from there will determine the next steps. The second element is positive community diversionary activity. By building on the young persons strengths and interest we will support them into local provision within the area they live.
Grants are available for young people from the Trust.
Applications are invited from young people in Melsonby for grants from the Cockin Trust. Small amounts of money are available for educational, training and recreational projects covering a wide range of activities. Further information is on the village notice board, and application forms are available from the secretary Gail Smith or at gailes@btinternet.com. The closing date for applications this year is September 20th 2022.
On the webpage you can access the winter update brochure, which summarises the key changes to the scheme since our autumn 2021 consultation. There is also a consultation summary report, which gives you details of the consultation, how many people took part and the feedback we received on our developing designs.
For those who do not have access to the internet, we have a number of deposit points where you can pick up a copy of the update and consultation summary report:
Penrith Library, CA11 7YA
St Michael’s Church, Kirkby Thore, CA10 1UR
Appleby Tourist Information, CA16 6XE
Kirkby Stephen Library, CA17 4QX
Brough Memorial Hall, CA17 4AS
Cross Lanes Organic Farm, DL12 9RT
Barnard Castle Library, DL12 8JB
Mainsgill Farm Shop, DL11 7PN
Richmond Library, DL10 4AE
Clayport Library, DH1 1WA
We have also sent an awareness raising leaflet to communities along the route.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me on A66NTP@nationalhighways.co.uk and I would be happy to help.
Meeting with PowerGrid on 11th February 2022 in Melsonby.
Peter Griffen and Cllr Judith Stansfield, Melsonby Parish Council Chair met with Mike Hammond and his colleague from PowerGrid on Friday 11th February 2022 to talk about the regular short power cuts that we have in Melsonby. It was a very interesting and instructive meeting and they have provided printed handouts to support their talk.
PowerGrid do not generate power but provide a historically complicated pattern of supply lines that feed 2000 households in our area. The controlling sub-station is near Newton Aycliffe and power is delivered to us by a mixture of overhead and underground cables, which are partly High Voltage (HV) that is converted to Low Voltage (LV) to go into our houses. Melsonby is at the end of this power line from Newton Aycliffe and any faults on this line will result in a power outage in Melsonby. The overhead parts of the network can trip out if hit by a goose, a big branch or very high winds, to protect the integrity of the network. There are automatic devices that can sometimes restart the flow, or a controller in Newton Aycliffe or Newcastle can redirect more serious outages remotely, or if there is a serious issue, send engineers out to fix it – eg the felled poles in Aldbrough during the last two storms. There are also some manual switches, e.g. on the poles near Harelands, that an engineer can manually switch to isolate a specific problem and that will let many people be reconnected relatively quickly.
In 2021 Melsonby had 18 separate interruptions, which is well above average:
Transient issues – at least 4 occasions
Overhead repairs – at least 3 occasions
Underground cable faults – at least 4 occasions
3rd Party interference – at least 2 occasions (e.g., farm machinery)
Bird strikes – at least 2 occasions
The present system is very complicated, but is being updated – the new substation on the Green in Melsonby has the latest state of the art equipment, but is still a hostage to fortune to faults on all of the links back to Newton Aycliffe.
PowerGrid are working on the problems with intermediate and long-term actions:
Intermediate Actions
GM automation to be installed at the local substation within Melsonby, to improve restoration times during a HV fault
Replacement of Overhead Circuit Breaker supplying Melsonby to provide better visibility when faults occur. This will let the control centre see accurate fault activity live, so they can switch on the network again without having to drive there, in some scenarios
Continuing to inspect network to identify remedial actions
Complete any necessary remedial works during foot patrols
And now for the GOOD news!
The long-term action includes the construction of a £1.2m reinforcement scheme (with funds approved and allocated) to install a new Primary Substation at Scotch Corner to improve local resilience – this has already started with the installation of a new powerline on the Skeeby Rd.
This will allow them to split the existing HV network to enable villages like Melsonby to be fed from the planned new primary substation.
This is obviously a lot shorter distance than from Newton Aycliffe, so we shall not be affected so much by outages to the North of us.
The funding of the new substation is related to the new Retail Park at Scotch Corner, so Powergrid can ride the cost of the improvements to us on that development. Work has already started on the road at Skeeby and it is expected the new features for us will be in place in 2023.
Melsonby Community 