Our new chair has pledged to ensure local democracy is promoted for the benefit of all communities in the run-up to the authority’s elections next year.
Cllr David Chance has become the fourth chair of North Yorkshire Council after members voted him into the role during the authority’s annual general meeting today (Wednesday, 20 May).
He has succeeded Cllr George Jabbour, who was the chair for the past year, and will hold the role for the next 12 months up until May next year, when the first all-out elections will be held since the launch of North Yorkshire Council in April 2023.
Cllr John Ritchie, who represents the Woodlands division on the council, was appointed as the vice-chair.
Cllr Chance said: “It is an honour to take on the role of the new chair of the council, especially during such an important 12 months for the authority.
“The all-out elections which will be held on May 6 next year will be the first since North Yorkshire Council launched in 2023, giving our voters the chance to shape the future of the authority and the county as a whole.
“I will use my time as the new chair to help to promote the work of the council and to make sure that local democracy operates as effectively as possible to serve all of our residents and businesses across North Yorkshire.”
Cllr Chance has been a councillor for 15 years after he was elected to the former Scarborough Borough Council in May 2011.
The following year he was given the tourism and culture portfolio on the council and held the role up until 2015.
He was elected to represent the Whitby and Mayfield-cum-Mulgrave division in 2013.
He was appointed to the former county council’s executive in May 2015 as the executive member for stronger communities and public health. He remained on the executive in various roles until May 2024 after the launch of North Yorkshire Council the previous year.
He was re-elected in May 2022 as the member for the new Danby and Mulgrave division on North Yorkshire Council.
Cllr Chance served as a member of the North York Moors National Park Authority between 2013 and 2015 and a board member of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough from 2012 to 2015 and then followed by a second stint from 2022 until present.
He was also a board member of the town’s creative industries centre, now called Woodend Gallery and Studios, from 2012 to 2015.
He initially represented North Yorkshire County Council and then North Yorkshire Council on the North Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority since 2016. He is currently the authority’s vice-chair.
Brought up in the village of Ugthorpe, near Whitby, Cllr Chance started his career in tourism and entertainment in Whitby, Scarborough and Teesside before working for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company. The British shipping line operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977.
After leaving that role, Cllr Chance went back to local government in Ayr in Scotland for 11 years before going on to be the head of arts, entertainment and tourist services in Cambridge.
He then became the director of tourism for the Ayrshire and Burns Country Tourist Board before setting up his own business in 1995 to represent actors and directors in film, television, theatre, radio and commercials. Cllr Chance retired in 2020.