News

Consultation on the New North Yorkshire Unitary Authority ‘Let’s Talk campaign’

The Town Council has received the following from NYCC.

We are kick-starting North Yorkshire’s biggest countywide conversation, Let’s Talk, this autumn to understand how the public are feeling, what their priorities for their local areas are and to get their feedback to help inform decision-making for the new North Yorkshire Council.

We’re starting the conversation on 26 September with the launch of our ‘Let’s Talk Local’ engagement, finding out which topics are most important, like education, housing, public transport, and climate change. Later in the autumn, we’ll be asking the public for their views on the budget for the new council to help inform decision-making, as well as taking the proposed Devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire forward for public consultation (subject to political decision).

How are we doing this?

We aim to have at least 1,250 face-to-face conversations over the next four months in local places where people go, socialise, and meet, like libraries and street markets. We will also be talking to partners at their meetings and to community groups. Working with the Stronger Communities and Community Teams from all councils, our team of 40+ volunteers – again from across all eight councils – will be holding these important conversations for ‘Let’s Talk Local’ in person, ensuring we capture a wide range of views, and supporting those who may not be able to complete the survey online.

This will be supported by significant activity between September to December across press, radio, print and digital media, with a target of attracting 3,750 online responses.

We’re using a safe and easy-to-use platform called Commonplace to provide our own consultation platform where we will host surveys to capture online feedback and inform the public what happens after the consultations. It’s used widely across Local Authorities, and Ryedale District Council have already used it to capture feedback from their residents about active travel with great success.

Key messages

  • On 1 April 2023 North Yorkshire Council will replace the eight councils currently delivering public services in North Yorkshire
  • This is North Yorkshire’s biggest countywide conversation
  • The new council is being built with local at the heart of everything it will do – local staff providing local services, based on local priorities and decision making
  • Having one new council will save money by joining up services so they make sense to you, and ending duplication. This money will help support services to ensure they are stronger and fit for the future and will fund empowered local decision-making.

ENDS

The Town Council will forward a further bulletin later regarding how views shall be canvassed.