Tourist agency’s plea for bailout brings in first sums of £600,000

ALMOST £600,000 of extra taxpayer money is to go to financially-stricken tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire after the first sets of regional councils agreed to its bailout request.

The agency has been seeking a total of £1.4m from local authorities as a result of a black hole in its finances caused by the loss of expected business rates funding and the suspension of private members’ fees due to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that without the money it would be forced to close.

Councils in South and North Yorkshire have now separately agreed to provide extra funding totalling £590,000 for the agency, which already receives around half of its £4m annual income from the public sector.

Sheffield City Region, along with contributions from Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley councils, has agreed to hand the cash-strapped organisation £300,000 of public money.

Coun Gareth Dadd, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance at North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), said £215,000 of unallocated business rates pool funding for nine authorities – NYCC, York, Scarborough, Ryedale, Hambleton, Selby, Harrogate, Richmondshire and Craven – has been approved for Welcome to Yorkshire.

In addition to that, NYCC agreed to provide a further £76,600 on top of its normal £84,000 annual subscription.

Coun Dadd said NYCC had originally been asked for a £50,000 in additional funding but increased its amount after Ryedale and

Hambleton councils refused to pay in extra cash.

The two district councils – along with East Riding Council – had previously signalled their intention to refuse extra funding for the body, which has struggled to recover from the fallout surrounding the departure of original chief executive Sir Gary Verity in March 2019 amidst allegations about his expenses spending and treatment of staff.

Coun Dadd said the latest funding came with strict expectations but he had faith new chief executive James Mason could deliver. He said: “We expect them to be shifting the balance of funding from the public sector to the private sector. I have confidence that Mr Mason will turn things around. It is about giving them the time and space to do that.”