**UPDATE on 30 June 2020: The proposals were adopted today at the full Authority meeting by a vote of 17-5.
Proposals to improve the governance of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority will be considered at a full meeting of the Authority on Tuesday 30 June.
The changes, recommended by the Authority’s Audit & Review Committee, would see local representation maintained and the overall size of the Board reduced from 25 to 16.
This is in spite of the Government-commissioned national Landscapes Review, which recommended Boards of just 9 to 12 Members, none of whom would be appointed locally.
Carl Lis, Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: “We believe we can make more progressive changes to how the Authority is governed. We understand why the Landscapes Review proposes that National Park Authority Boards are made much smaller, but we firmly believe that the removal of all local representation on the main Board, with local members simply serving on a Planning Sub Committee, would be a retrograde step.
“We already knew our Board was too large and unbalanced following the extension of the National Park boundary in 2016. Now is the chance to put that right – and demonstrate to Government that we are serious about more effective local governance, before we have something imposed on us.
“Our Audit & Review Committee has recommended that we reduce the size of the Board from 25 to 16 while maintaining the level of local representation. That would mean 12 of the 16 Members would be appointed from the County, District and Parish Councils to represent the 23,500 people who live in the National Park.
“By having more efficient decision-making at the top from people who care passionately for this special place, we can build on the work already underway to address the climate and nature emergency in a way that continues to respond to the needs of our local communities.”
Other meeting papers to be published today include a report revealing the ‘exceptional quality’ of the dark sky in part of the National Park, and an update on the progress being made by local bodies to achieve the objectives in the National Park Management Plan 2019-24.
The Audit & Review Committee Report into governance arrangements, as well as other meeting papers, will be published here (full link – www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/meeting/full-authority-meeting-2/).
Is there a possibility for the public to offer comments on this proposal so that they can be cosdiered at the 30 June meeting?
Hello Mr Naylor,
Members of the public can send in questions or statements for the authority members to consider at their meeting. The authority allocates up to 15 minutes near the start of the meeting to allow members of the public to make statements or ask questions. Anyone wishing to make a statement or raise a question should register their intention by 12pm on Monday 29th June. To do this, please send an email to secretariat@yorkshiredales.org.uk. Your e-mail should include your full name and address and the organisation you represent, if relevant, and your statement or question. This should be no longer than 300 words. If we receive a lot of questions and statements, there may not be time to read out all of them at the meeting.
Guidance is available on our website here: https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/05/FINAL-AMENDED-Public-speaking-guidance-notes-remote-meetings-all-committees.pdf