Number of Selby councillors could be cut (From York Press)

Number of Selby councillors could be cut

8:21am Saturday 22nd September 2012 in News

PLANS to review the boundaries of voting areas in Selby and cut the number of councillors have taken a step closer.

The proposals were put forward by Selby District Council last summer to help reduce long-term costs, and have been referred to the independent Local Government Boundary Commission.

Council leader Mark Crane said earlier this year the changes were about being “smarter in the way in which we represent our residents” rather than reducing the level of representation.

A report which has now been presented to the council suggests cutting the number of councillors from 41 to 31 however, councillors voted to ask the Commission to propose its own figure rather than present their suggestion.

Coun Crane said: “The next step is for the Boundary Commission to do their work and come back with both a number and plot of those sites. One of the problems with 31 is that it is very difficult to divide the district up into 31 separate sites. We found it almost impossible.”

The report called the plans a “bold reduction”, which would save £41,150 per year in basic councillor allowances, the equivalent of one per cent of Selby’s council tax.

After the meeting Councillor John McCartney who did not attend said: “This whole thing was announced when the Tories were making cutbacks. I suspect a number of councillors were worried it could be them.”