Return of All Creatures Great and Small will bring a welcome boost to the visitor economies of the Yorkshire Dales - Carl Les

I never really had the privilege of knowing Alf White although my parents had been introduced to him in that great centre of social connectivity that was Alle’s outfitters on Prospect Crescent in the centre of Harrogate, and he came occasionally to our hotel for Sunday lunch. I do know Jim and Rosie however and it is amusing to see their characters now developing, however fictional, into personalities with feelings, thoughts and voices. Life in a popular vets’ home and practice must have been fun, and very busy.

A very busy week for North Yorkshire Council and many councillors, for myself so much so that ‘All Creatures’ had to be recorded and watched on Friday night. On Tuesday we held an Executive Committee meeting in Selby. About half our regular ‘Exec’ meetings are held away from County Hall to counter the misperception that all decision-making is done in Northallerton. The vast majority of decisions that affect people’s daily lives are actually taken by managers and staff based in the localities where people live, and are subject to scrutiny by locally elected councillors either individually or at Area Committees. Policy decisions are taken by the entire Council, or by the Executive Committee hence my desire to move it around the county.

Interestingly, although advertised on the council’s information networks, including to local councillors, very few members of the public came to see what we are doing. As we move ever closer to the next election, supporters of political parties are making an appearance, claiming what is broken, blaming who they can, then their candidates offering to fix it if they win your vote. A classic approach when in opposition. Not so easy when in administration.

The Council held three meetings this week to discuss home to school travel as we have come to a point in the process where having introduced a new policy a promised post-implementation review has been published. The first meeting was for our young persons’ scrutiny committee to look at the review’s recommendations. I asked my executive colleagues to attend this in person or online to hear the discussions first hand.

The second was an online briefing for all Members, and the third was an extra Executive meeting called at short notice so that we could accept, alter or reject the recommendations in time to allow a six week in term time consultation before any decision is taken at the November council meeting.

Add in travel time which can be considerable in our rural county, a couple of parish council meetings, the brilliant basic building blocks of local government, and a break for a couple of hours one evening to eat the menu one of our most talented local chefs is presenting in the final of a competition, the one thing that suffered this week was my email correspondence.

I get about 180 emails a day on both my accounts. Some, if not junk, are speculative and can be quickly discarded. I’m fortunate that all of them come into my own smart phone, so I don’t need to be at my desk, but even ones to discard need to be read at least in part. Others are more formal. And many are from residents with concerns, two important issues at the moment being unauthorised developments outside of planning regulations, and the government`s proposals for housing 1,500 young, male asylum seekers.

A new approach is to circulate a personalised standard letter that correspondents can cut, paste and forward. Previously this was a photocopied letter signed individually rather than the multi-signed petitional letter.

However, these new ones can be modified so need careful reading to check for any additional points. I don’t complain, just mention that as with this week there may be a delay in responding.

The debate about the tourism levy continues. Whilst it is right that the government consults on this, what is concerning is the lack of clarity about the practicalities. Our Mayor’s consultants recommended a flat fee of £1, considerably less than the £2 first mooted that was attracting much criticism, but the government has said nationwide it will be a percentage, locally decided but with no cap. This is the only clarity.None yet of how and who will be responsible for the calculation and then collection. This could be a considerable administrative and cost burden on the collector, as well as a verification process.

Coun Carl Les the Leader of North Yorkshire Council.