New council boss Claire Douglas pledges to be a 'listening leader'

In an exclusive interview with the Press, Cllr Claire Douglas unveiled plans to tackle everything from the lack of affordable housing to the cost of living crisis and the performance of underachieving children in city schools.

But she says she also wants to restore pride and a sense of engagement with local government in the city.

Cllr Douglas said she did not officially become council leader until May 25. "But then we will get on and start delivering our commitments to the city immediately," she said.

Her plans for the city include:

• reversing the blue badge 'ban'
• introducing free school meals for children in York primary schools - starting with schools in the most deprived areas
• ensuring that all housing built on council-owned land is affordable
• stricter enforcement of affordable housing quotas for all major housing developments in York, along with requirements on developers to build infrastructure such as shops, transport and health facilities
• a review of public transport - including working with the new directly elected mayor of the York/ North Yorkshire Combined Authority which will be set up next year to establish accountable 'bus franchises'
• neighbourhood caretakers - dedicated council handymen for every neighbourhood in York who are trained and equipped to do everything from clear litter to repair potholes

Cllr Douglas pledged that she will crack on with all of these priorities as quickly as possible - starting with free school meals and reversing the blue badge ban.

Disabled groups in York would not have to wait 'too long' for the blue badge issue to be addressed, she said.

Disabled groups will not have to wait long for the blue badge ban to be reversed, pledges new city council boss Claire Douglas

"This is not a new subject," she said. "There has been so much discussion about it. We're not coming to it cold. It should be fairly prompt.

"We will find a way of allowing everybody to access the centre of York the way the rest of us take for granted."

She said the pledge of providing free schools meals for every primary school child in the city would start with focussing on the 10 schools in the most deprived areas of York.

Discussions have already been held with big organisations in the city about funding the pledge, she said - and with a charity about managing it.

The commitment to provide free school meals for every primary school in York will start with the children in schools in the ten most deprived areas, says Claire Douglas (Image: PA)

Cllr Douglas said that, above all, she would be a leader who listens.

"That's just how I work," she said.

"I pride myself on being approachable. If we get it wrong, we will own up to that, and we will listen to what people say. Members of the public will tell us!

"At the moment there are too many people that feel totally distanced and disenfranchised from local government and politics. We intend to fix that.

"It will be really hard work. But all types of people need to feel that their council is working for them."

Neighbourhood caretakers

Labour is determined to reintroduce a sense of pride in communities - and has pledged to appoint a 'neighbourhood caretaker' for each area of the city.

This will, in effect, be a council 'handyman' trained and equipped to carry out local work in the community ranging from trimming verges and hedges to clearing up litter and filling potholes.

The caretaker will also be a local council point of contact for those living in the area, Cllr Douglas said.

"They will be trained and have access to equipment and will be able to do jobs for the community - some of the basic council services."

Public transport

A decent public transport system for York is vital, Cllr Douglas says.

So she has pledged to work with whoever is elected next year as the first regional Mayor of the York and North Yorkshire combined authority to look at ways of improving bus services.

A First York bus in York (Image: Supplied)

That could involve looking at introducing 'franchised' bus services in the region over which the combined authority would have more control.

Such a franchise could either be let out to existing operators such as First - or it could be an 'in-house' council franchise, she said.

The idea would be to make bus services easier to use: for example by making it possible to buy a single ticket which could be used on any bus in the area.

Who is Claire Douglas?

York's new council leader Claire Douglas is in her early 50s.

She was born and brought up in Luton. After studying physics at university, she became a secondary school physics teacher in Bedfordshire.

Then she and her academic husband went to California for more than four years, where she worked in the IT sector.

The couple, who have no children of their own, came to York 19 years ago when Cllr Douglas' husband got a job at the University of York.

Cllr Douglas used her IT skills to set up her own business in York with two business partners. Split Rock International offered IT consultancy services to major corporate clients such as Oracle and EDF, as well as around the world.

Cllr Claire Douglas (Image: Supplied)

After operating successfully for 16 years, the company closed in 2020. It was a victim of Brexit, Cllr Douglas says - many of the company's clients were in Europe.

Cllr Douglas then helped set up a York charity, the Big Futures Foundation, which works with schoolchildren from deprived backgrounds to try to help close the education 'attainment gap', whereby children from poorer backgrounds do less well at school.

The charity works with younger children to offer activities such as cooking, outdoor play, swimming, music and seaside trips, all designed to help develop 'life skills'.

It also plans to start working with older children on music, learning languages - and helping to find work experience placements.

Cllr Douglas is the charity's founder and chair of trustees. She is also chair of the Tang Hall Community Centre.