So, City of York council survives. It will NOT be forced to merge with Ryedale, Selby and Scarborough councils to form a large ‘super authority’ stretching from Selby to the North Sea. Instead, following an announcement by Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick on Wednesday, it will remain an independent unitary local authority. North Yorkshire County Council, meanwhile, will swallow up all the district councils in the area, absorbing them into a second, county-wide unitary authority that will wrap around York like a doughnut. So, business as usual, then, in York at least? Well, not quite - the whole process of local government re-organisation has been linked to regional devolution. It is likely – though not yet certain – that the people of York and North Yorkshire will now be asked to elect a single executive Mayor to represent the whole region.