Unitary consultation ROBERT JENRICK has announced an eight-week consultation period on two alternative, conflicting proposals to bring North Yorkshire under a unitary status – the so-called East/West split creating two unitaries, or the single North Yorkshire unitary. He claims that he has always been clear that any restructuring of local government must be locally-led and will not involve top-down solutions from government. However, this is not the case. He is not asking the residents of North Yorkshire whether they want to change to a unitary status. On the contrary, he is telling us we will be having a unitary system and asking which option is preferred by businesses, local services and residents.