North Yorkshire Liberal Democrats

25/08/2026

🚍 School transport: the questions are mounting... 👀

North Yorkshire Council is facing calls to abandon its controversial school transport policy after it emerged that the council may not have been applying its own rules when assessing eligibility.

When decisions can cost families thousands of pounds and affect children’s education, parents deserve a system that is fair, transparent and consistently applied.

We will continue to push for this solution.

North Yorkshire Council is facing fresh calls to abandon its controversial new home-to-school policy after it emerged that the authority was not following its own rules on how to assess eligibility.

19/08/2026

Serious concerns are being raised by the Liberal Democrat and Liberal Group at North Yorkshire Council over the state of the Conservative-led council’s finances, after a startling rise in the costs of supporting children and young people in care was revealed.

The figures raise important questions about how the council is managing its finances, and whether enough is being done to protect vital services for residents.

Cllr Peter Lacey said:

“We must ask serious questions about this administration’s failure to get ahead of the growing needs of children and families.

“This is not simply a failure for families who may have been spared the hurt and distress of a child entering care with the right support at the right time; it is also putting the long-term sustainability of Council finances at risk.”

Lib Dems warn that failure to invest in prevention over the years is leaving the Council paying the price as the number of looked-after children rises by almost 40% since 2023.

18/08/2026

🎉 A win for disabled people!

After an almost two-year Liberal Democrats’ bus campaign, disabled people’s bus passes will finally be valid at any time of day across England from April 2027.

Last September, Tom Gordon MP tabled an amendment to the Bus Services Bill to scrap the outdated time restrictions. Despite Labour voting it down, Tom and other campaigners kept fighting.

After Tom hosted a roundtable in Parliament in December, Andy Burnham introduced the change in Manchester.

Now the Government has finally listened and agreed to remove the restrictions across England.

Free local bus travel is a vital lifeline for many disabled people, and this change will make a real difference.

A brilliant Lib Dem win! 🚌 🔸

18/08/2026

Cllr Peter Lacey’s full quote on the £10m overspend on children’s services by North Yorkshire Council:

“We must ask serious questions about this administration’s failure to get ahead of the growing needs of children and families. This is not simply a failure for families who may have been spared the hurt and distress of a child entering care with the right support at the right time; it is also putting the long-term sustainability of Council finances at risk.

“Year after year, our financial reports have highlighted the growing pressure from rising demand for children’s services. Those warnings have not been acted on, and we are now seeing the consequences.

“The Conservative administration’s response to budget pressures has been to rely on the one-off savings created by becoming a unitary authority - a pot that is now effectively exhausted - leaving it increasingly dependent on the large reserves inherited in 2023, that are now dwindling. Instead of using those strategic reserves to invest in prevention and early support, they have been used to plug ongoing deficits and cover the costs of poorly managed capital schemes.

“We need a different approach: one that tackles problems earlier, supports families before they reach crisis point, and uses Council resources to prevent costs from escalating rather than simply paying for the consequences.”

“Since the new Council was established in 2023, the Liberal Democratic and Liberal group has repeatedly called for greater investment in prevention. Those calls have gone unanswered, and the Council is now paying the price.

“Each year, we are told that the greatest risk to our long-term financial position - which still shows a deficit budget by the end of the three-year planning cycle - is the rising demand in ‘people services’. That means families with children and young people who expect North Yorkshire to be a great place to grow up in, are being failed by the Council.”

Yorkshire Evening Post The Stray Ferret ITV Calendar BBC Yorkshire

13/08/2026

Tom Gordon MP from Harrogate, has joined Lib Dem councillors, calling for damaging changes to the Lifeline service to be paused while residents are consulted.

Tom said:

“Lifeline is not a gadget on the wall. For a lot of my constituents, it is the reason they can carry on living in their own home. Taking away the responder service and cutting contact to once a year is a significant change to people’s lives, and those people were never asked.

“When we were forced into this new single North Yorkshire Council we were promised a consistent standard across North Yorkshire. Residents warned at the time that this harmonisation would turn out to be code for levelling down to the cheapest option available. On Lifeline, that fear has been proved right.”

Local MP Tom Gordon has called for changes to North Yorkshire Council’s Lifeline service to be put on hold until residents have been consulted.

12/08/2026

🔥 A year ago today, Fylingdales Moor was declared a major incident.

The wildfire went on to burn for more than six weeks, devastating around 20 square kilometres of the North York Moors and becoming the biggest fire in the National Park’s history.

Today, the Prime Minister is chairing a COBRA meeting on extreme heat, wildfires and drought as the UK faces another summer of dangerous conditions.

That timing should make us stop and think.

The Fylingdales fire was started by human activity, but the exceptionally dry conditions helped create a landscape primed to burn.

Historic England has described the fire as a climate-driven threat, highlighting how heat and drought are increasing the risks to our landscapes, nature and communities.

This is what climate adaptation looks like in reality. It means:

✅ better wildfire preparedness,
✅ restoring and protecting peatlands,
✅ properly resourcing our fire and rescue services,
✅ tackling the root cause of extreme heat and drought: climate change.

We cannot keep treating each heatwave, drought and wildfire as an isolated emergency.

The lesson from Fylingdales is clear: we need to prepare for the climate we now have, while doing everything we can to prevent things getting worse.

📸 = North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service

08/08/2026

📣 The home-to-school transport debate grinds on, with news emerging that North Yorkshire Council isn’t even following its own protocol to assess eligibility.

Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Lacey, leader of the opposition, said:

“This is no longer simply a question about mapping or technology. It is a question of governance.

“If the council has been applying the policy differently from the way councillors approved and parents were told, then we need to understand how that happened.

"Who authorised it? When? On what advice? And why were councillors and parents not told? Those are questions the council now has a duty to answer."

North Yorkshire Council is facing fresh calls to abandon its controversial new home-to-school policy after it emerged that the authority was not…

07/08/2026

Thanks Ed... a welcome letter.

07/08/2026

🥳 Fantastic news in the early hours of Friday morning!

Congratulations to the newly elected Lib Dem Councillor for Coppice Valley, Rebecca McManus, winning with a landslide 61.2% of the votes 👏

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1338477985114291&id=100068563054761

Result of the Coppice Valley by-election:

🌹LAB: 48 5.1% (-4.9%)
🔶LD: 579 61.2% (+21.2%)
🌳CON: 118 12.5% (-4.5%)
➡️RUK: 147 15.6% (-9.4%)
🌿GRN: 47 5.0% (-3%)
Total votes: 942, 30.72%

👏Congratulations to the newly elected Cllr Rebecca McManus

06/08/2026

🥳 A win for community members, with Brierley Homes' U-turn and recommitment to paying the Kirkby Malzeard residents what they were originally promised, towards sports facilities, community areas, and the village hall.

💬 Group leader of North Yorkshire Liberal Democrat councillors, Peter Lacey, said:

“This is a really positive outcome for Kirkby Malzeard, and a victory for the local community, who made it clear that this commitment simply had to be honoured. I’m pleased that Brierley Homes has listened, and confirmed it will pay the £131,000 in full to the parish council.

“From the outset, Liberal Democrat councillors have worked alongside residents and the parish council to press for this agreement to be upheld.

“This funding was promised as part of the development and it is only right that local people receive the assured investment.”

https://www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk/council-owned-house-builder-agrees-to-pay-kirkby-malzeard-community-money/

Liberal Democrats Felicity Cunliffe-Lister

A council-owned housebuilder will honour a commitment to pay £131,000 towards community improvements agreed when planning permission was granted for a new housing estate. Brierley Homes, which is owned by North Yorkshire Council, has faced [...]