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29
Jul 2020
County council approves £290,000 funding for Welcome to Yorkshire
North Yorkshire County Council has approved more than £290,000 worth of additional funding to under-threat Welcome to Yorkshire following a bailout request from the tourism body.
Senior county councillors today backed further funding for WTY, which faces a £1.4 million funding gap amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The troubled tourism body, which was marred by scandal only last year, revealed the shortfall in July and wrote to council leaders in the county asking for support - of which around £450,000 was needed from authorities in North Yorkshire.
The organisation was deprived of £1 million in business rates after councils in North and West Yorkshire saw a loss of income due to the pandemic. A further £400,000 shortfall was created when WTY suspended its membership fees.
Read more:
- Two recovery plans launched to save North Yorkshire tourism
- County council ‘stands by’ under-threat Welcome to Yorkshire
Now the county council’s executive has backed further funding for the organisation.
In addition to the county council's £84,378 standard yearly subscription, a further £76,600 and £215,000 will now be contributed from the council’s directors of development fund. It takes the total contribution up to £375,978.
Other authorities, such as Rydedale, have refused to give the tourism body any extra funding.
Cllr Gareth Dadd, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance at the county council, told an executive meeting yesterday that the funds were not an “open cheque” for WTY.
He said:
It comes after WTY was hit by controversy when former boss, Sir Gary Verity, resigned in March 2019 on health grounds but faced allegations of bullying and inappropriately claiming expenses.
Two inquiries carried out after Sir Gary’s resignation cost the tourism body £482,500, and former boss, Paul Scriven, told the House of Lords it had a “culture of toxicity” and misused public funds.
Investigators looked at expenses worth around £900,000, of which £26,000 were of a personal nature. Sir Gary has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
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