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27
Feb
Councillor turns down plea for film cash to be spent in Knaresborough
A plea to spend money raised from filming in Knaresborough on projects in the town fell on unreceptive ears at a full North Yorkshire Council meeting yesterday.
Cllr Matt Walker, the Liberal Democrat member for Knaresborough West, asked how much the council had received in revenue from film production companies in the last 12 months.
The question came just two weeks after actors Kiefer Sutherland, Rebel Wilson and Danny Dyer ‘took over’ Knaresborough to film their new Christmas movie, Tinsel Town.
Responding, the Conservative Cllr Simon Myers, who represents Mid Craven and is executive member for culture, arts and housing, said the total had come to “about £10,000”, which covered renting Conyngham Hall, carparks and Knaresborough Castle.
He added:
I’ve asked for the figure for North Yorkshire. I’m told it won’t be very much. It could be that Knaresborough is the ‘big hit’ this year.
Movie trailers parked in Conyngham Hall.
Cllr Walker also asked if the council would commit to spending the revenue received on the castle, which is “in desperate need of repair”. He also asked that the revenue from the carparks be spent in the town, adding:
The residents have been inconvenienced, and I think it is only right that there is some financial recompense.
But Cllr Myers said he was against ‘ring-fencing’ funds in that way “on principle”. He said:
It would be very easy for everyone on this council to be very parochial and to demand that monies raised in their patch are spent in their patch.
Let’s spend the money where there is most need. That’s what I think North Yorkshire Council should be about.
If you want an example, there’s one carpark in Skipton that will raise more money than all the carparks in Knaresborough in a year. Should I have Skipton residents arguing that that money should simply be spent in Skipton?
You have a £17.5 million new leisure facility. Ryedale hasn’t had a bob spent in years. Should the residents of North Yorkshire subsidise your gold standard in Knaresborough, while people in Ryedale can’t get decent facilities?
Let’s not go down the path of being parochial, even though it may play to our electorate.
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