A PANEL scrutinising the performance of North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has rejected her proposals to take control of the region’s fire authority – calling it "high risk" and "drastic".

Julia Mulligan, PCC for North Yorkshire wants to scrap current watchdog, the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, in favour of the PCC taking on the role.

However, The North Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, which comprises councillors from North Yorkshire County Council, the City of York Council and community members, urged Ms Mulligan to reconsider her proposals.

They believe that a model which retains the current fire authority and gives the PCC a voting place – known as the representation model – is more appropriate for the county.

Hambleton district councillor Peter Wilkinson, who is vice chair of the panel and chaired the meeting, said: “The panel agrees with the general principle of improving collaboration for the benefit of communities and where it also achieves savings that can be re-invested into frontline services.

“But the Commissioner’s proposal goes too far. She is asking the public – and we as partners – to agree to a proposal which is very high-risk, lacking in any detailed assessment of what it would achieve and which, critically, cannot be reversed if things go wrong.”

The panel expressed concern at the business case put forward for Ms Mulligan taking over responsibility for the fire service, which would result in the loss of expertise of the 16 councillors who currently sit on the fire authority.

Cllr Wilkinson said: “Such a drastic change in governance of the fire service is totally needless.

"We have an effective fire authority with strong leadership, which has taken forward a number of good collaborative initiatives with other partners, such as the health sector. Taking a very narrow focus on pushing police and fire together risks excluding such valuable partnerships.”

Ms Mulligan declined to comment on the panel’s findings. A public survey on the proposal, which ends on September 22, is at telljulia.com.