Whitby Town Council to discuss motions for more meetings and new councillors

Councillors will consider two applications received for the vacancy in the West Cliff Ward and will also consider the next steps regarding a vacancy in the Stakesby Ward, where a poll has not been demanded.

A motion has also been put forward for the meeting by Coun Robert Barnett, proposing that in order to “take utmost advantage of the opportunities afforded by devolved powers” the frequency of meetings should be increased.

It states that the town council should “in line with the majority of Town Councils in North Yorkshire, revert to the more usual and better practice of holding meetings of full council on a monthly basis”.

Another motion has also been put forward for the meeting by Coun Anne Brown which proposes the creation of a “rota to enable all town councillors to attend fortnightly multi-agency problem-solving meetings and take a lead in reporting information from the meeting to Full Council”.

It states that the rota would “identify three consecutive meetings per councillor” to ensure that the full meetings get reports from the gathering of police and NYC staff covering trading standards, licensing, and highway issues.

A medium-term financial plan, which identifies expenditure trends over a five-year period, has also been proposed for approval at the meeting.

A meeting report states that inflation – affecting all bought-in goods and services – has been estimated to increase between 2 per cent and 5 per cent annually.

The growth of year-on-year expenditure is estimated to rise by 3.5 per cent to £547,000 by 2027/28, from this year’s budgeted £514,000.

The report also notes that funding for allotments and public conveniences has been ring-fenced “on the basis that expenditure is matched to income generated by the service”.

Members of the public are invited to take part in the meeting at the Pannett Art Gallery, starting at 6pm.