N. Yorkshire’s Poor Relations

N. Yorkshire’s Poor Relations

• an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD, lamenting further evidence that the Borough of Scarborough is nowhere near to fulfilling its service potential. Is an increase in Council Tax the answer? Or a decrease in the reckless playing of Monopoly with the public purse?
  

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A survey carried out by Halifax, based on data including:

• housing market,
• high employment levels,
• low crime rate,
• the environment,
• strong exam results,
• smaller primary class sizes
• health,
• personal wellbeing
• leisure

has concluded that the following are the top 50 places in the UK to live:

1. Orkney, Scotland
2. Richmondshire, Yorkshire and the Humber
3. Rutland, East Midlands
4. Hambleton, Yorkshire and the Humber
5. Eden, North West
6. South Oxfordshire, South East
7. Cotswolds, South West
8. Ryedale, Yorkshire and the Humber
9. St Albans, East of England
10. Derbyshire Dales, East Midlands
11. Vale of White Horse, South East
12. Waverley, South East
13. Hart, South East
14. East Hertfordshire, East of England
15. Westminster, London
16. Winchester, South East
17. Rushmoor, South East
18. Uttlesford, East of England
19. Wychavon, West Midlands
20. Harborough, East Midlands
21. South Cambridgeshire, East of England
22. Rushcliffe, East Midlands
23. Ribble Valley, North West
24. Surrey Heath, South East
25. Wokingham, South East
26. Harrogate, Yorkshire and the Humber
27. Babergh, East of England
28. West Oxfordshire, South East
29. South Buckinghamshire, South East
30. Windsor and Maidenhead, South East
31. Warwick, West Midlands
32. Elmbridge, South East
33. Chichester, South East
34. Stratford-upon-Avon, West Midlands
35. Lichfield, West Midlands
36. Malvern Hills, West Midlands
37. Rochford, East of England
38. Chiltern, South East
39. Shetland, Scotland
40. Richmond upon Thames, London
41. West Berkshire, South East
42. Basingstoke and Deane, South East
43. South Hams, South West
44. Fareham, South East
45. St Edmundsbury, East of England
46. Wycombe, South East
47. Mid Suffolk, East of England
48. Monmouthshire, Wales
49. Daventry, East Midlands
50. Selby, Yorkshire and the Humber

North Yorkshire County Council is the first-tier authority for North Yorkshire and its boundaries include the following second-tier authorities (in alphabetical order):

• Craven District Council
• Hambleton District Council
• Harrogate Borough Council
• Richmondshire District Council
• Ryedale District Council
• Scarborough Borough Council
• Selby District Council

The five localities highlighted in bold type in that top-fifty list are also highlighted in bold type in the above list of the seven North Yorkshire Districts/Boroughs.

Conspicuous by their absence are Craven and Scarborough, where residents are less well served than their neighbours elsewhere in North Yorkshire, at least in terms of the Halifax criteria of housing market, high employment levels, low crime rate, the environment, strong exam results, smaller primary class sizes, health, personal wellbeing and leisure.

In fairness, policing, education and health do not fall within the statutory remit of second-tier Councils.

But housing, employment, environment, personal wellbeing and leisure do.

The residents of Craven and Scarborough will not be best pleased to find themselves once again the poor relations in the North Yorkshire family – especially Scarborough, the “low-pay capital” of the United Kingdom and “personal bankruptcy hotspot“.

Notwithstanding SBC Leader Councillor Derek BASTIMAN’s claim (“I live in the best place in the world“), residents of the Borough of Scarborough will be looking for credible assurances of an improvement in Quality of Life when they go to the polls in May. On the evidence of the past four-year Council term – strewn with disasters, cover-ups and embarrassments – confidence in the present Leadership is at an all time low.

I leave you with the Leader’s remarks, as reported by the Scarborough News (10/08/17):

Fantasy Island, or what? The reality, as we now know, is that the “phased development of the town’s north side” comprises a waterpark on the bones of its fundament and a great deal of hot air. And, meanwhile, the North Bay, like the South, has lost its Blue Flag. Can it get any worse?

A younger, more imaginative, more compassionate and more dynamic Leadership is now the first priority.

Vote wisely – by NOT rewarding failure.