Welcome to Yorkshire: Council refuses to pay tourism body

A council has refused to pay its annual subscription fee to Yorkshire's embattled tourism body.

Richmondshire District Council voted against handing over £14,515 for Welcome to Yorkshire's (WtY) services next year.

A meeting heard it had failed to convince councillors of its benefit to the area, having posted only 45 related social media posts in six months.

WtY said it was disappointed in the decision.

The council's corporate board was told the authority had asked the agency to provide an account of activities it had performed on behalf of the district.

Instead, it produced a review of recent activity such as social media posts.

One elected member said a teenager was likely to send more posts in a day than WtY had over six months, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The meeting heard that every other council in North Yorkshire had paid the fee and Richmondshire was asked for the subscription funds last summer.

The struggling body was blasted for serving too big an area to be meaningful and one councillor said it had "had its day".

Others argued the funding could have gone towards affordable housing.

Welcome to Yorkshire has faced a series of setbacks over the last two years.

Sir Gary Verity resigned on health grounds in March 2019, and later faced complaints - which he contested - about his behaviour and expenses claims.

His replacement, James Mason, stepped down last October after two years in the role.

Documents last year showed "big mistakes" were made in the way the organisation had previously spent taxpayers' money, Mr Mason said, with Wakefield Council refusing to loan the cash-strapped organisation money.

It was announced in August that the Tour de Yorkshire, which is organised by WtY, would not go ahead in 2022 for the third year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

WtY had previously said it could operate until March 2022, providing "all committed subscriptions for 2021/22 are paid".

It declined to directly respond to the poor service claims or whether the council's decision would create any finance issues for the body.

A spokeswoman said the body was disappointed the council had chosen not to pay its subscription, but respected the decision.

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