A consultation to gather the views of residents, businesses, and communities on the scheme for York and North Yorkshire devolution has now closed. The consultation ran from 21st October to 16th December and received over 1800 contributions from the public.
The validity of response to the devolution consultation has been recognised by the Consultation Institute.
Mike Bartram, a quality assurance assessor from the Consultation Institute said,
“It is understandable that those overseeing a consultation want to see the highest possible response rate from their target audience.
“While they can be influenced by the amount and targeting of publicity and the ease of responding, response rates can also reflect the level of inherent interest in the subject matter of the consultation among certain sections of the target population. In the Institute’s experience, people who are opposed to a proposal appear often to be more motivated to register their opposition than supporters are to show their support. On some occasions, lower response rates may simply reflect a general acceptance of what is proposed, rather than a failure to provide an adequate opportunity to respond or to publicise a consultation properly.
“The areas of the City of York and North Yorkshire have a combined population of 817,900. The consultation has attracted 1831 responses with fully completed demographic data to its online consultation and a total of 2318 consultation contributions. This response rate is comparable to the 2020 West Yorkshire consultation on devolution which received 4,317 responses from a population of 1,889,000.”
The region’s responses to the consultation will now be analysed, with independent support from the Consultation Institute. A report on the outcome of the consultation will be published on the 6th of February for consideration by the North Yorkshire Executive on 14th February. City of York councillors will meet on the 23rd of February for their considerations. These considerations will inform the decision as to whether or not to submit the scheme (as revised if appropriate) and a summary of the responses received to the Secretary of State.
To keep up to date with the progress on devolution and to receive a copy of the consultation outcome report please subscribe to the devolution newsletter at www.ynydevolution.com .