A DISTRICT council has become the only official independent council in the Yorkshire and Humber region – one of a very small number in the North.
Richmondshire District Council now has 18 independent members out of a total of 34 after councillors Stuart Parsons and Jane Parlour left the Liberal Democrat party – giving the Independents in Richmondshire an overall majority for the first time.
It returns the council to its official rating as a majority independent controlled and led local authority, a rating it previously held from 1999 to 2003.
Leader of the council, Coun John Blackie, said: “We are proud to be an official independent council once more.
"But our new status will not in any way alter the course we have set ourselves since the last election in May 2011 - to promote the best interests of all of our individual communities whilst maximising the benefits for local people and local businesses across all the District, and for our visitors too.”
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