Mayor of Selby is elected annually by the members of the town council. At district level the town is part of the Selby District Council area. The town is represented by seven councillors on the District Council, two each for the west and south wards and three for the north ward. On the North Yorkshire County Council the town is part of the Selby Barlby county division which elects two representatives to the county council. In the United Kingdom Parliament Selby formed part of the Selby constituency until the 2010 general election, when it became part of the new seat of Selby and Ainsty. It is represented by Conservative MP Nigel Adams. Geography Selby lies on the tidal River Ouse in a natural area of Yorkshire known as the Humberhead Levels. The main roads which cross at Selby are the A63 from Leeds to Hull and the A19 from Doncaster to York, though the A19 and A63 no longer meet in Selby itself since the opening of the Selby Bypass in 2004. The River Ouse is navigable upstream as far as York so the old toll bridge by which the A63 crossed the river at Selby had to allow for this. For many years the swing bridge in Selby was a notorious local bottleneck but since the opening of the Selby bypass congestion in the town has been relieved. The importance of Selby as a market town has declined in recent decades and its short lived prominence as the centre of the Selby Coalfield has also waned. Selby is close in proximity to both York and Leeds. Its popularity as a tourist destination, due to Selby Abbey, has led to a large amount of development and renovation in the town and surrounding area. The residential areas of Selby have also been subject to expansion and development. A significant development called Staynor Hall continues to be developed on the South East of the town, with other developments in the Holmes Lane area, and around the villages of Brayton, Barlby and Thorpe Willoughby. More have been built at various points along the riverfront, the result of an ongoing project to improve an area that had been largely derelict since the decline of the shipbuilding industry. Floods In recent years there have been serious flood problems in Selby and the adjoining village of Barlby. The threat in the Barlby area has been alleviated