Council to support bailout of tourism agency
COUNCIL CHIEFS in Kirklees have agreed to pay £ 79,000 towards a £ 1.4m bailout of tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire.
The agency has been seeking the money from councils across Yorkshire due to a forecast £ 1m loss in the business rates it had been expecting following coronavirus and £ 400,000 less after suspending firms’ membership fees.
The stance of Kirklees, whose chief executive Jacqui Gedman was asked last year to provide strategic support to WtY as the agency struggled to recover from an expenses spending scandal under the leadership of former chief executive Sir Gary Verity, is in marked contrast to that of neighbouring Wakefield Council, which last week refused to pay a requested £ 78,000 to the body.
The move has been applauded by Martyn Bolt, a Conservative councillor for Mirfield, a keen cyclist and a former national board member of the Cyclists’ Touring Club.
Coun Bolt said: “The cost of showcasing Kirklees’s wonderful scenery around the world via the coverage of the Tour de France and Tour de Yorkshire far exceed the council’s current contribution.
“As we are already seeing via the tourism brought by TV shows such as Last of the Summer Wine, that income may continue to flow for many years.”
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “Each council will take a view of the importance of tourism and the hospitality sector to the region’s economic recovery.
“In Kirklees we remain committed to supporting Welcome to Yorkshire alongside the vast majority of neighbouring councils.
“We see their role to champion the region as a destination as even more important in the current context.
“That is why the council will follow through on the funding that was originally earmarked for this purpose in July.”
Coun Bolt accepted that WtY had experienced issues around its spending and said it had sought to demonstrate better financial accountability.
He added: “My question to those authorities who have withdrawn funding is, who will market their areas if Welcome to Yorkshire goes under?”