First year in office 'huge learning curve' - mayor

David Skaith said he faced challenges during his first year in office as he was England's first elected mayor for a rural area

The first ever directly-elected mayor for York and North Yorkshire has said his first year in office had taken him on a "huge learning curve".

Former York business owner David Skaith won the election for Labour by about 15,000 votes on 2 May last year.

Ahead of the first anniversary of his election, Skaith said: "I'm incredibly privileged every day to be able to do this role."

"It's a huge undertaking, a huge task," he explained, adding that the biggest lesson he had so far learned in the role was "having patience".

"We're having to learn with government, as well, about how we deliver transport, housing and skills away from a core city, which is what we are," Skaith said.

"It's the first combined authority that's really been borne out of a rural area - it's never been done before."

Voters in Scarborough and Harrogate will elect their first ever town councils on Thursday

Skaith said his proudest achievement since taking office was setting up a fund for high streets.

"As a small business owner myself, I've seen how challenging it's been on the high street," he said.

"But high streets are more than just businesses, they're places of community and places where people come together.

"Creating places where people can go and spend time and enjoy is something I was really passionate about - and how you do that in a hard-to-reach area."

Ahead of local elections this week, Skaith said he looked forward to working with other new mayors elsewhere in England, including the new representative for Hull and East Yorkshire.

"When investment comes into Yorkshire, but into the wider North, it helps us all, so having more mayors, more powers, more funding coming in, is only a good thing."

David Skaith won the 2 May 2024 election by 15,000 votes to become the first mayor for York and North Yorkshire

With voters in Scarborough and Harrogate preparing to elect their first ever town councils on 1 May, Skaith said parish and town councils were also "incredibly important" to "build that bigger picture".

Such authorities helped with "getting down into the weeds of everyday understanding of what these communities need", he said.

"It's not always a huge multibillion-pound investment. It can literally be making our communities feel safer, look safer, be safer."

Skaith said his next priorities included "ramping up investment" and "seeing more money going out of the door", focusing on a sports council and a men's mental health taskforce.

"All in all, there's going to be a lot happening over the next 12 months," he concluded.

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