Whitby - Governance

Governance

By an Act of 1837 government of the town was entrusted to a board of Improvement Commissioners, elected by the ratepayers. A Local Board was formed in 1872, and lasted until an Urban District Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1894. The townships of Whitby, Ruswarp and Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre were formed into a Parliamentary borough under the Reform Act of 1832 returning one member until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Since 1974 Whitby has been administered by Scarborough Borough Council, one of the seven district councils in North Yorkshire. For borough council purposes the town comprises three wards, Mayfield, Streonshalh and Whitby West Cliff. The borough council is a non-metropolitan district, responsible for housing, planning, leisure and recreation, waste collection, environmental health and revenue collection. North Yorkshire County Council is a non-metropolitan county providing education, transport, highways, fire, waste disposal, social and library services. At the lowest level of governance Whitby has a town council which, for election and administrative purposes, is divided into six electoral wards represented by 19 councillors responsible for burial grounds, allotments, play areas and street lighting. Elections to the town council are held every four years.

In the UK parliament the town is represented by a Conservative, Robert Goodwill, who was elected member for the Scarborough and Whitby constituency in 2010. Whitby lies within the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency of the European Parliament, which in the June 2009 European Election elected two Conservative, one Labour, one UKIP, one Liberal Democrat and one British National Party MEPs, although one of the elected Conservative MEPs transferred to the Liberal Democrats in March 2010.