Don’t let North Yorkshire mayor be a dictator – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Coun Paul Andrews (Ind), Malton Ward, Ryedale District Council.
Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire County Council.Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire County Council.
Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire County Council.

I’VE read the interview with Carl Les, the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, and the ensuing correspondence.

He pretends that the reorganisation is not a takeover of local democracy, but the creation of a new council.

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The truth is North Yorkshire is run by a politburo of 10 Tories, and it won’t matter if the council has 72 or 90 elected members, these 10 Tories are sure to stay in office and the other elected members will have very little or no say on what goes on.

Will rural areas benefit from North Yorkshire having its own mayor?Will rural areas benefit from North Yorkshire having its own mayor?
Will rural areas benefit from North Yorkshire having its own mayor?

He says the Government’s request for considering reorganisation became a requirement. This is simply not true. If the 10 Tories had not decided to propose a unitary county, there would have been nothing for the Secretary of State to consider, and no reorganisation.

And I cannot see a cash-strapped council wasting millions on building a new HQ which is less remote than Northallerton.

The sheer arrogance of the Tory establishment is appalling. They bang on about democracy in foreign lands, while they regard themselves as the only credible governing party here.

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They only pay lip service to democracy when it suits them. In the name of efficiency, they rob residents of historic towns like Scarborough and Harrogate of their right to elect councillors to run their own local services.

To cap it all, Carl Les recalls his father’s service in the last war. That war was fought in the defence of democracy. The wanton destruction of democracy by himself and his colleagues should be enough to make the servicemen and women who fought in the war turn in their graves.

It is clear from their actions that Carl Les and his colleagues despise democracy. None of them deserve to be elected to any public office ever again.

From: Dave Ellis, Hedon.

I WOULD like to thank the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, Carl Les, for taking the time to put right a few points in my letter (The Yorkshire Post, September 4).

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I am pleased that he is putting his name forward for consideration as leader of the new ‘super council’ in order to iron out the operational problems in order to complete the job of transformation.

There seems to be a wide variance in the estimated set-up cost so I hope that any reserves from the seven councils, plus North Yorkshire County Council, are sufficient to cover this.

The thought of another layer of local government, in the form of a Mayor for North Yorkshire, will undoubtedly add to the cost in the longer term, in the form of a precept for the Mayor’s office to council tax payers. I trust that North Yorkshire ‘super council’ and the City of York Council officials will be able to work together, as the current leaders are of different political parties and thus have different agendas!

I hope that it is successful, as with Greater Manchester and what Andy Burnham has achieved by standing up to central government.

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