Agenda and minutes

The Lord Mayor welcomed all in attendance to the October meeting of Extraordinary Council.

The Lord Mayor then invited all those present to observe a minute’s silence in memory of Cindy Benton, Community Engagement Officer at City of York Council who recently passed away. Cindy was remembered as a diligent officer who provided invaluable assistance to ward members.

To receive and note apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jane Burton, Cullwick and Orrell.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see the attached sheet for further guidance for Members.]

There were no declarations of interest.

At this point in the meeting, any member of the public who has registered to address the Council, or to ask a Member of the Council a question, on a matter directly relevant to the business of the Council or the City, may do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00pm on Tuesday, 14 October 2025.

To register to speak please visit: www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this public meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission.  The remote public meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Gwen Swinburn spoke in relation to agenda item 4, the City of York Council Boundary Commission Size Submission. There was concern about a failure to agree on a common number of Councillors and the omission on three critical issues.

First, that it ignored significant disparities in governance and representation between wealthy outer wards and disadvantaged central wards. Guildhall, like other inner wards, lacked parish councils. Unlike York outer wards where parishes dealt with local issues, community engagement and funding, this absence left Guildhall Councillors, for example, solely responsible, significantly increasing their workload and left communities without

additional voice or resources.

Second, the draft's claim of York being 12^th least deprived unitary obscured York central's challenges. It ranked 379out of 533 constituencies for deprivation compared to York outer’s seventh least deprived status. Guildhall's far more significant poverty, health disparities, and transient population resulted in relentless

demands with homelessness, crime, and anti-social behaviour burdens falling heavily on Councillors.

Third, only 52% of Guildhall ward adults registered to vote versus roughly 90% in outer wards, effectively doubling Councillor workload. Councillors served all students, international arrivals, transient, homeless, plus 9 million tourists, and many businesses, all uncounted in workload metrics as only registered

voters were counted. By including voter registration data in

this submission, it would highlight this inequity supporting more Councillors for inner wards.

To receive a report from Councillor Fenton, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee, on the work the scrutiny committee has undertaken in respect of the Boundary Commission submission.

The Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer submitted a report which presented the City of York Council Size Submission (the number of elected councillors).

The Lord Mayor invited the Chair of Corporate Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Fenton to move the report.

In moving the report, the following key points were made:

·      Councillor Fenton thanked members of the scrutiny task and finish group and officers with support from the Boundary Commission for their work in pulling the report together in a very short period. It was an impressive report and whilst it wasn't possible to arrive at a consensus position the report contained well-argued positions for the Boundary Commission to consider.

·      It was reported that minor amendments had been suggested and agreed at the Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday, 1 October 2025 and these were reflected in the version presented to this evening’s Extraordinary Council meeting.

The Lord Mayor then invited the Vice-Chair of Corporate Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Merrett, to second the report.

In seconding the report, the following key points were made:

·      Councillor Merrett reported that the scrutiny task and finish group met on four occasions. He wished to place on record his appreciation to the other members of the task and finish group, Councillors Coles, Hollyer, Steward and Wann. Also, the many officers who provided support with a particular thanks to Julie Gallagher, Head of Democratic Services, who drafted the main part of the report in an incredibly short timescale after recently joining City of York Council. He also thanked Tom Rutherford from the Boundary Commission who attended task and finish group meetings and answered a considerable range of questions about the process and what a good submission looked like.

·      It was clear that there was a need to produce a bespoke document setting out the best council size for York, its residents, business community and community needs. The submission should be based on strong evidence to justify the recommendation.

·      The submission covered three key areas. First, what was required in terms of good governance. Second, how City of York Council operated effective scrutiny in holding the council and executive to account. And third, the right representation for electors, specifically how many Councillors were needed to cover all the needs of communities, individual matters, community engagement and other aspects of being a Councillor.

·      It was made clear that oversimplistic comparisons with other councils using number-based approaches was not encouraged. Evidence justifying the recommendations against specific needs was essential.

·      The document presented to Council summarised results from the council's workload survey. It demonstrated the wide variation in individual workloads. In relation to overall size, it was advised that anything outside a range of 30 to 100 Councillors required an exceptional case for the Boundary Commission to give it any serious consideration.

Members’ comments were then invited as follows:

·      The Leader of the Council thanked everyone involved in the process and the work that had been undertaken in getting to this point. This included officers and members as well as those  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.