FUTURE board meetings of troubled tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire will be held in public in a bid to increase accountability and transparency.

An additional three meetings will also be held around the county each year to increase opportunities for more conversations between Welcome to Yorkshire, its members and the wider public.

The moves were decided at the first board meeting of 2020.

Last year leader of Scarborough Council, Cllr Steve Siddons, said that nothing short of full transparency would be enough to regain the trust of the public after allegations over expenses and bullying allegations were made around the time of the departure of the agency’s chief executive Sir Gary Verity. 

Peter Box, chair of the organisation, said today: “As I promised when I became Chair, it has now been approved that our future board meetings will take place in public to increase accountability and transparency.

"I also want to make sure we get out and meet both members and the public more often; so we are planning roadshow-style board meetings in all four corners of the county so that people can air their views and make sure their thoughts and ideas are heard.”

Jas Athwal, an entrepreneur and prominent figure in the Asian business community, will be the new deputy chair of the board.

He said it would be "a real privilege to help the organisation to be better and grow stronger”.

The board has also appointed two new, non-executive directors.

Sarah Tahamtani, a partner and head of the Employment Practice at Clarion and Paul Grace, former head of customer Banking at Yorkshire Bank who has 24 years’ experience in banking and financial services, took up their roles on Wednesday, January 22.

Peter Box said: “Both Sarah and Paul will bring fresh energy and ideas to the board. When I took the role of Chair, in October last year, I wanted to strengthen the Board in a number of key areas, especially financial planning, legal expertise and governance issues.

"These are the first two appointments, part of a planned programme of recruitment to the board, with more advertisements going out before the end of February.”

Sarah said: “Welcome to Yorkshire has a great track record over the past decade in promoting the county. I am certain that the organisation can move forward positively and continue to build on the success that it has achieved by becoming sustainable, remaining relevant and driving growth in visitor numbers through collaborative working.”

Paul said: “I’m delighted to be joining the board at Welcome to Yorkshire at a time when there is a great opportunity to help shape the future direction of the organisation. I believe I can bring some additional commercial focus, as well as working on strategies that deliver business goals.”