Major questions remain over Welcome to Yorkshire’s financial fiascos: Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Dave Ellis, Hedon.
Sir Gary Verity's past management of Welcome to Yorkshire continues to come under scrutiny.Sir Gary Verity's past management of Welcome to Yorkshire continues to come under scrutiny.
Sir Gary Verity's past management of Welcome to Yorkshire continues to come under scrutiny.

I refer to excellent reporting and scrutinising on the way forward for Welcome to Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Post, February 20).

Firstly, the facts and figures of salaries and expenses for the senior management team when Sir Gary Verity was chief executive officer are ‘eye watering’, with his basic salary of £240,000, plus extravagant expenses. Who signed off all these ludicrous expenses and could they be justified?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Have the current management team got the projected finances in order? The interest rate on a £500,000 loan Welcome to Yorkshire has taken from North Yorkshire County Council is growing at seven per cent per annum, which is non-operational money.

James Mason succeeded Sir Gary Verity as chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.James Mason succeeded Sir Gary Verity as chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.
James Mason succeeded Sir Gary Verity as chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.

Plus current and previous staff pension commitments by Welcome to Yorkshire with the North Yorkshire County Council pension scheme is a lasting financial legacy for the agency.

It baffles me why Welcome to Yorkshire board would sign a non-cancellable operating lease in the current headquarters building in Leeds? Again surely this needs renegotiating?

Going forward, keeping the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race is a sound decision, as this excellent event attracts tourists, with the associated income to the local communities on the tour route, and has the flexibility to move the route around the four former ‘shires’ to spread the benefits to all areas of Yorkshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

New campaigns like ‘Walkshire’, to strengthen walking holidays in Yorkshire, and developing a tourist app are another examples of how James Mason and his team are promoting Yorkshire to the world. He has one of the most challenging jobs around trying to reconnect with businesses and strengthen partnerships with local authority leaders, without the unforeseen limitations of the pandemic on Yorkshire tourism.

I hope that, under his leadership, his team will be successful in continuing to promote Yorkshire and be less financially dependent on the public sector and, by 2023, have a small profit in Welcome to Yorkshire’s bank account.

From: Michael Clarke, Market Place, Kirkbymoorside.

YOU would have imagined lessons to be learned after the debacle of the Tour of Yorkshire when “the world” was going to attend turned out to be mainly European teams who probably know far more about Yorkshire than the residents.

The vast majority of spectators were Yorkshire people enjoying their own towns, villages and countryside with the added bonus of looking at aerial views never seen before, unfortunately spoiled by a circus of sponsors.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Apparently “Walkshire” will also bring “the world” to our county which may come as a surprise to the other 94 counties of the UK who also view walking as an essential part of their tourism offer.

I’m sure WTY will discover an as yet unknown USP to attract those in other countries who failed to be attracted by watching bicycles falling over in the wet in Harrogate. The suggestion of an app to turn WTY into a public-funded travel agency receiving booking commissions is an inventive way of producing much needed revenue, and I’m sure will provide another delay in pulling the plug on this financial fiasco.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.