Council digs £ 20,000 deeper in bid to bail out struggling Welcome to Yorkshire

KIRKLEES Council is to give £ 20,000 more than originally publicised towards a bailout of Welcome to Yorkshire ( WtY), it has been revealed.

The authority decided in July to allocate £ 99,875 in surplus business rates towards the tourism agency, which has been seeking £ 1.4m in funds from local councils to save it from collapse.

Kirklees Council said last month that it was giving £ 79,000 to WtY but that figure is what was left in the balance of its business rates.

The true figure has now been made public after being allocated

“to support WtY activity through the remainder of 2020/ 21, to enable it to continue to promote culture, tourism and the Yorkshire brand across the area”.

The original decision was taken on condition that it was jointly agreed by all West Yorkshire authorities – but the council still went ahead with the payment after others refused.

Councils in Wakefield, Hambleton and Ryedale voted not to hand over any additional funding. The total amount withheld was £ 164,000.

However, Kirklees Council opted not to follow suit.

A decision taken on September 22 and published on the council’s website on the same day showed that the council was still prepared to commit the surplus of £ 99,875 to supporting WtY “on the basis that their role to champion the region as a destination is even more important in the current economic context as a result of Covid- 19.”

It is almost three times the amount it paid to WtY in the four years from 2014.

The council says it remains committed to supporting WtY “alongside the vast majority of neighbouring councils”.

WtY has experienced well- documented financial troubles associated with the tenure of former chief executive Sir Gary Verity, who resigned from his role in March 2019.

The agency was then hit by the loss of expected income this year due to the Covid crisis.