Why the Stray Ferret is asking for correspondence over the mayor’s £20 million pothole funding diversion

Welcome to our regular look at what goes on behind the scenes when we are working on articles at the Stray Ferret.

Sometimes in this slot, we explain the exhaustive process that lies behind one of our more complex recent articles. But this time, we wanted to explain why we publish some of the stories that appear on this site.

We think the effort we put in distinguishes us from the pack and hopefully provides an additional reason, beyond our seven-days-a-week rolling news service, to subscribe.

Sometimes covering a meeting of a public authority can be a dull and thankless task for a journalist.

But when one reveals that the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is set to redirect £20 million pothole funding to another council area, it matters.

For the last three months, we have been following to story of mayor David Skaith deciding to change a long-established government formula to give more money to York than North Yorkshire.

Mr Skaith has defended the move publicly on numerous occasions. But he has not given any meaningful evidence to support such an important move.

Over the last three months, the mayor has been compared to Dick Turpin, accused of an “attack on rural North Yorkshire” and seen a letter of legal action land on his desk.

It all makes for good copy — so why are we continuing to pursue the story?

Amid all the political rhetoric and legal threats, there is a story about public money being diverted from one place to another with little explanation as to why.

Mr Skaith has claimed the move gives North Yorkshire more money and that the formula was changed in York’s favour because the roads get more wear and tear.

But, a public report into the decision does not appear to include any studies or evidence to back this up.

That is why we decided to send freedom of information requests to York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which Mr Skaith chairs, requesting any studies into the decision and correspondence with North Yorkshire Council over the pothole funding.

The combined authority rejected our requests on the grounds of protecting legal privilege in light of the ongoing legal challenge from North Yorkshire Council.

However, we believe there is significant public interest in the combined authority justifying this decision and providing the correspondence to ensure transparency over use of public money.

Taxpayers have a right to know what their money is spent on, how it is allocated and what evidence is used to reach decisions.

Mr Skaith's decision might be perfectly reasonable — but he needs to provide the evidence for justifying it.