North Yorkshire crime commissioner Zoë Metcalfe resigns as Harrogate councillor

Commissioner Metcalfe was elected as Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in November 2021 whilst also serving as a councillor on both HBC and North Yorkshire County Council.

She was elected to Harrogate Borough Council in the 2018 local elections winning 786 votes.

The rural ward includes villages near Knaresborough including Staveley and Copgrove.

In May’s local elections, Commissioner Metcalfe did not contest her seat as a Knaresborough councillor on the North Yorkshire County Council but she continued as a Harrogate Borough Council councillor until this last week.

A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson confirmed the council received notification of her resignation yesterday.

Commissioner Metcalfe’s predeccesor as Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner was fellow Conservative, Philip Allott, who quit after making controversial comments about the Sarah Everard murder by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens.

Commissioner Metcalfe was unavailable for comment today, however, her Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner register of interests says it was always her intention to resign as Claro councillor following her election as crime commissioner.

However, she decided to stay on until at least September 2022 to avoid “the cost to the public purse of a by-election.”

The council will be replaced by North Yorkshire Council on April 1 2023 and government legislation states that by-elections can only be held after September 30 if more than one third of all seats on the council are vacant.

A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson confirmed there will be not be a by-election for Commissioner Metcalfe’s former Claro ward.

Commissioner Metcalfe also said in her register of interests that any allowance money earned after May 2022 through her position as a Harrogate Borough Council councillor would be donated to domestic abuse charities.

She said: “Upon becoming Commissioner I expressed the intention to stand down from both council seats in time for the electoral cycle due in May 2022 and in any event to stand down from (or arrange substitutes for) my committee and sub-committee memberships in both councils.

“Upon further reflection (in order to avoid the cost to the public purse of a by-election) I presently intend to relinquish my seat on Harrogate Borough Council in September 2022 and in the meantime to donate a sum equivalent to my allowance for that role, between May 2022 and September 2022, to community safety charities of my choice.

"My present intention is to make such a donation to IDAS and Survive in equal measure, to support their work for victims and the vulnerable.”