Eight councillors who have served on Craven District Council for over 20 years are set to be made Honorary Aldermen of the district.
Every council has the power to bestow the title of Honorary Alderman or Honorary Alderwomen to past members who have given good service to an authority.
However, since it was created in 1974, Craven has only awarded the title to three councillors. These were Beth Graham in 2013 - and Kenneth Hart and Marcia Turner in 2015.
With the impending abolition of Craven District Council on March 31 to make way for a new North Yorkshire unitary council it means a host of long-serving councillors can be considered for the award.
In 2015, the council increased the time served to be considered for the award from 15 to 20 years.
The councillors who have served on the district council for more than two decades are: Robert Heseltine, 43 years, Carl Lis, 34 years, Philip Barrett, 30 years, David Ireton, 25 years, Eric Jaquin, 21 years, Stephen Place, 26 years, Andrew Solloway, 21 years and Alan Sutcliffe, 20 years.
Craven District Council’s appointment of honorary titles committee met last night (Wednesday) in Skipton to recommend that all eight councillors are made Honorary Alderman, with a vote taking place at the next full council meeting in February to rubber-stamp the appointments.
Committee chairman and Conservative councillor for Mid-Craven, Simon Myers, said the title does bring with it any specific powers but joked that Honorary Aldermen and Alderwomen will be able to take advantage of free sandwiches during full council meetings at County Hall in Northallerton.
Cllr Myers said the title is a recognition for the work the councillors have done for the people of Craven.
He said: “There are those who do more than they need to do, need to do more than just winning votes in their ward. Anyone can butter up their ward, it’s the stuff they do beyond that for Craven.”
There was a call from independent councillor for South Skipton, Andrew Solloway, to also make Conservative council leader Richard Foster an Honorary Alderman due to his 19 years as councillor, which is just under the 20 year cut-off. He said: “You’ve done 19 years service with half that as leader. To be honest, you only just missed it. I know you like the role and not the ceremonial side but you’ve seen us through some really tough times. I’m glad it’s you doing the role and not me.”
The committee will meet again in January where they will also discuss making other potential appointments as Honorary Alderman or Alderwoman as well as the Freedom of Craven award.
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