Selby District Council considers cut in councillor numbers

The number of councillors in Selby could be cut after the Local Government Boundary Commission agreed to review the current structure.

The Conservative-run authority has 41 councillors serving an electorate of almost 65,000 people.

The council leader, Mark Crane, said cutting the number of councillors could help reduce long-term costs.

Any change agreed would be implemented in time for the District Council election in 2015.

Mr Crane said: "We've made some radical changes to the way staff work to make savings, so I believe it's right that we also look at the number of councillors too.

"This isn't about reducing public representation, this is about being smarter in the way in which we represent our residents."

A public consultation will take place as part of the review to be conducted by the Boundary Commission.

The organisation is already reviewing the number of councillors at another district council in North Yorkshire.

Hambleton District Council believes reducing its councillors from 44 to 28 would save about £75,000 a year.