Districts appeal to minister as county muscles in

17 December 2007

The secretary of state for transport has been urged to step in and stop a county council taking away responsibility for highway maintenance from two of its local borough councils.

Harrogate BC has written to Ruth Kelly pleading for her to intervene and prevent North Yorkshire County Council stripping both Harrogate and Scarborough BC of their powers. Since local government reorganisation in 1974, both authorities have had agency agreements with the county, but North Yorkshire now intends that to end, claiming it would get better value under a re-organisation.

Environment services director, Gordon Gresty, told the county’s transport scrutiny committee that highways maintenance contracts with Balfour Beatty and Jacobs UK for work across the 93% of North Yorkshire not covered by agency agreements would end in 2012, and would have to be re-tendered, and Harrogate and Scarborough should be included in the new contracts.

‘It will increase the size of the financial package and make it a more competitive tender process,’ he said.

But leader of Harrogate BC, Mike Gardner, told Surveyor: ‘This will not bring value for the taxpayer and we have asked the minister to step in.’

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