A ROW has erupted over what is done with £3m of funds before Ryedale District Council (RDC) is disbanded next year.

The council currently has just under £3 million pounds of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds which is money collected from developers building property in specific areas.

A proposal to develop a scheme that local organisations can apply to has been passed by the authority, which will cease to exist at the end of March next year and become part of the new North Yorkshire Council.

The move comes despite a warning from North Yorkshire County Council’s leader, Councillor Carl Les, that this approach could be “unlawful and challengeable”.

His views have been backed by Cllr Keane Duncan, leader of the Conservative group on RDC.

An extraordinary meeting of the district council heard claims the funds would be needed by the new unitary authority for key long-term projects, but a majority of elected members voted to change the way it uses developers’ contributions and invite local organisations to apply for a share of the funds.

CIL funds have previously been used to boost infrastructure, such as schools and roads. An officer’s report to the meeting shows the CIL funds may now be spent on projects, such as £600,000 towards the development of a livestock market.

The report states other potential recipients of the funds include Helmsley Outdoor Pool, Kirkbymoorside Skate Park and Beck Isle Museum.

Cllr Duncan,who is also member of the county council’s executive, said while Ryedale CIL money should be spent in Ryedale, it needed to be allocated “in a responsible and strategic way, rather than as part of a last-minute spending spree ”.

He said: “This extremely short-sighted approach risks depriving our community of the genuine new infrastructure that’s so desperately needed. It could put a new primary school on Beverley Road in Norton and a new junction at York Road in Malton in jeopardy.

“RDC has chosen to ignore reality and is hell bent on continuing with advertising this funding regardless of the county council’s warning that funds will not be released.

“I am gravely concerned that organisations may waste time applying for CIL money when there seems to be no realistic chance of this funding being released. This would be an incredibly disappointing situation.”

However Cllr Di Keal, Leader of the Liberal Democrat and Independent Group at RDC said Cllr Duncan was guilty of a ‘total betrayal of the people of Ryedale with this blatant attempt to rob residents of their own money’.

Cllr Keal said: “Whilst the district council still exists, we have an absolute right and duty to put money raised locally into projects of direct benefit to local people. This is money raised in Ryedale and it should be spent in Ryedale.

“He is attempting to stop this scheme in order to hand over £3 million to the new North Yorkshire Council that refuses to give any guarantee whatsoever that this money will return and be spent in Ryedale when the district council closes its doors next year.

“We have taken legal advice on the spending of the CIL funds and are perfectly within our rights to use this money locally.

“Any suggestion that building a new primary school in Norton will be put at risk by the spending of this money on local projects is total nonsense and a new junction off the A64 is currently not remotely on the horizon.

Cllr Keal added: “The majority of Ryedale councillors want to leave a lasting legacy when the council ceases to exist next year and one way we can do this is to support some of the brilliant organisations we have in Ryedale to deliver tangible projects now.”

Chief Executive of RDC, Stacey Burlet, said: “The CIL is money that has been raised in Ryedale as a result of Ryedale-based development and is overseen by Ryedale District Council.

“The process to apply for this money is comprehensive and there are strict criteria that need to be met prior to any allocation of the money - it must prove that it would benefit citizens in Ryedale. At this stage no funding has been allocated to any organisation.

“The CIL is not a community grants scheme, there is a distinct and different process for that type of funding. We will continue to do what is right for Ryedale.”