How Welcome to Yorkshire let down private members – Yorkshire Post Letters

SINCE the local authorities used the power of the public purse in 2019 to oust Ron McMillan, the then chairman of Welcome to Yorkshire and impose their own nominee, Peter Box, the company has – in practice – been in the control of the authorities, even if not in their formal ownership.

Welcome to Yorkshire should be now wound up after scandals – Yorkshire Post Letters

Theirs has been the responsibility. They have hardly covered themselves in glory. Formalising the ownership will not by itself solve much.

Welcome to Yorkshire farce insults tourism industry – The Yorkshire Post says

When the Yorkshire leaders meet, it is to be hoped that they reflect on whether a score of Yorkshire authorities each with its own priorities have the mechanism to fund the Yorkshire brand with consistency and dependability.

The fee-paying business members cannot expect to play more than a minor role in governance.

They have to leave it to the Board. Yet they have the hands-on experience of how to run a tourism enterprise.

For the last two years the members and the Private Sector Members Group, the voting members, have been excluded from participation in the affairs of the company.

In recalling the Yorkshire Tourist Board, Carl Les speaks of good communication with the private sector members and a great degree of openness. It was those qualities which I admired at their functions which made me put my name forward for PSMG.

It will take more than new structures or constitutions to restore the spirit of Welcome to Yorkshire.

From: Coun Paul Andrews (Ind), Malton Ward, Ryedale District Council.

IN my last article on reorganisation of local government in North Yorkshire, I said the cost was estimated at £18m. I have since found out that this estimate is out of date.

The cost of closing down the seven district councils is now estimated at £38m. My understanding is that this is not paid for by central government, but has to come out of council tax and/or reserves. Either way, local people are required to pay for something which there was no public call for.

This is money which could have been made available for delivering real benefits services and facilities to residents. Instead it is being misappropriated for purposes which are mainly political –namely ensuring that a ten member Tory politburo has total control over everything that goes on in the county.

Democracy is being sacrificed to party politics and we, the taxpayers of North Yorkshire, are having to foot the bill. What a waste.

From: George McManus, Whins Lane, Long Riston.

I FOUND your Editorial on COP26 both insightful and informative, but for one clear omission (The Yorkshire Post, October 30).

Along with many other activists from Yorkshire, I will be in Glasgow this week attempting to influence the decision making process. Whilst it’s clear that collective action will be key to finding a resolution, ‘all politics are local’, as Tip O’Neill, a former Speaker in the US Senate, once said.

Successful delivery is dependent on action on the ground. It is therefore unacceptable that decisions which relate soley to Yorkshire are taken by ill-informed politicians in Westminster.

Only last week we saw a Chancellor getting his Bury confused with his Burnley. I also recall the father-in-law of a previous Chancelllor advocating fracking be restricted to the ‘desolate North East’ only to correct himself by saying ‘I meant the North West’.

Major oil reserves lie under East Yorkshire. It’s scandalous that a final decision on 
extraction should be made in Whitehall.

There are plans to transport nuclear waste across Yorkshire to a new facility in Lincolnshire. Nuclear power is not carbon-free. Yorkshire should declare itself a nuclear-free county to prevent such a move.

The need for a Yorkshire Parliament is now overwhelming. Decisions specific to Yorkshire should be made in Yorkshire.

From: James Buick, Northallerton.

THE suggestions that Welcome to Yorkshire would have been run more effectively by the One Yorkshire governance model do not stand up scrutiny.

One of the few remaining board members of WTY is Carl Les – the leader of North Yorkshire County Council and whose council is pushing for unitary status against the will of local people.

Enough said.

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