Vital strategy drawn up for county’s economic future

A STRATEGY being drawn up to determine the future of North Yorkshire and enable the county to emerge from the economic storm, has been billed by a council chief as the most important in his career.

The 10-year Sustainable Community Strategy for North Yorkshire, launched in 2008, is being revised for the next three years to cope with the biting cuts that have hit local authorities and the emergency services across the county.

Among the new priorities being included in the revised strategy are protecting vulnerable people and supporting economic growth, employment and isolated rural communities.

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Gary Fielding, the assistant chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, has told the Yorkshire Post he believes the plan can still be a success despite the dire financial situation in the public sector.

And with consultation on the revised strategy coming to an end next month, he has warned traditional council services will be lost and is urging residents to come up with their own ideas to take ownership of community assets similar to the response to controversial local authority cuts to library services.

“I have been working in local government for 20 years and in my time this is the most important strategy I have been involved with,” he added.

“This is a vital document for the future of the county.

“It is the most difficult time for the public sector, so the most important thing is to get it right.

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People can help us prepare this strategy by understanding we are in a severe financial climate and we cannot provide services we have traditionally provided.

“There is definitely greater opportunity to look at what services are currently provided by the public sector and what can best be taken on by local communities.

“The whole point of providing a long-term plan is to recognise that we won’t always be in this situation.”

Mr Fielding said he was also looking at renaming the strategy, which is a partnership between the public, business and voluntary sectors in the county, to the North Yorkshire Plan, as it is currently too steeped in council jargon.

A draft of the revised strategy is now available for public consultation until September 23 online at www.northyorks.gov.uk/scs.