VOTE: More than £9,000 paid to visiting celebrities in last five years
MORE than £9,000 has been paid to celebrities to visit events in North Lincolnshire over the last five years.
A total of ten stars were paid by North Lincolnshire Council to appear in the region between 2005 and 2009, with a total of £9,300 spent.
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John Hegley.
The figures were obtained by the Scunthorpe Telegraph in a request made to the council under the Freedom Of Information Act.
One of the biggest sums was paid to former snooker star Dennis Taylor, who pocketed £2,500 for attending a Sportsman's Dinner, held as a fringe event prior to last year's cycling Tour Of Britain, which started in Scunthorpe.
Mr Taylor spoke at the black-tie event, which was held at the Forest Pines Hotel And Golf Resort, near Broughton, in September 2009. Proceeds from the night, which also included an auction, were split between Scunthorpe's Lindsey Lodge Hospice and Sport Relief.
The highest-paid individual was performance poet John Hegley, who came to the region as part of the National Year Of Reading celebrations in 2008.
He earned £3,000 for the visit, which involved visiting schools and taking workshops.
Several writers came to the area during the National Year Of Reading, although their fees and expenses were paid using cash awarded to the authority through Arts Council England, not out of the North Lincolnshire Council funds.
Another notable name to head to the region during this period was Colin Dexter, who is best known for creating the world-famous character of Inspector Morse.
Mr Dexter, who was paid £2,700, appeared in Scunthorpe in January 2009 at an event organised by North Lincolnshire Libraries.
He explained to the audience at the Plowright Theatre how Morse, who appeared in 13 novels and numerous short stories, was adapted for television, as well as talking about his own walk-on parts in each episode of the drama.
Acclaimed American novelist, Lionel Shriver, was also brought to North Lincolnshire as part of the National Year Of Reading. She was paid £425 to be the key speaker at the Readers' Festival, held in Barton- Upon-Humber in October 2008.
Others booked to come to the region during the National Year Of Reading included Sophie Hannah, who was paid £270, Roger Ellory, who took £280, Anne Zouroudi, who was also given £280, Peter Grimsdale, who was paid £75, and Karen Maitland, who was given £10.
The final celebrity was Stephanie Calman, who was paid £150 in expenses to appear at a North Lincolnshire Central Library event in 2006.
A North Lincolnshire Council spokesman said: "Our spending on 'celebrities' is very low and, as the list shows, represents good value for money.
"Most of the people listed were booked to visit North Lincolnshire during the National Year Of Reading and were paid for with special funding from Arts Council England.
"John Hegley, for example, visited schools and shared his passion for poetry in a series of workshops.
"This was something those children are likely to remember for the rest of their lives."
17 Comments
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by RobS, Goole
Friday, September 03 2010, 11:09AM
“In the grand scheme of things, with how much money has been wasted on other ridiculous ventures, the outlay on celebrities in this article looks justifiable.”
by Bill Cheetham, Bonby
Friday, September 03 2010, 9:34AM
“AD, So long as there are no legal, ethical or moral restrictions on press involvment, I think most would agree that where reasonable, appropriate and in the public interest, any local paper should report and hold to account any public or indeed private agency, individuals and all our councils.
Particularly where the interests of individuals and the wider community are at stake, and their concerns have been expressed to the local media. Perhaps this particular issue was instigated by a member of the public?
I believe there would not be the same attention and controversy if the ST's current scrutiny and reporting of all things NLC was accurate, fair, balanced and especially consistent.
On your last point, if the ST do not oblige in exposing and reminding all concerned of their projections, perceived 'promises' and motives for hyping up the local jobs and opportunities from the proposed Humber bank development; then I am confident that others will follow up that cause.
If necessary given the circumstances, you could sign up and publish your own concerns on the community e-zine visitscunthorpe.com.
However, I must caution you and I bear no responsibility for any tactics of retaliation and intimidation, being brought to bear by certain of our venerable Nth Lincs councillors, to suppress any such challenges and exposure of their performance and conduct!? Especially if and when the Tories regain control!!”
by ad, n lincs
Friday, September 03 2010, 8:24AM
“Surely holding the local authority to account is part of our local paper's remi?t. I bet none of the labourites who are whining right now will say anything when we more more of Kirks false job promises. Something I find profoundly annoyingis raising the hopes of hard pressed people with hopes disguised as real jobs”
by Hamst, Yaddlethorpe
Thursday, September 02 2010, 6:13PM
“Media by agenda! :-(”
by Doug, Scunthorpe
Thursday, September 02 2010, 6:10PM
“The last comment is the typical responce the Telegraph is trying to envoke with this type of bias reporting.”
by Kris, Barton
Thursday, September 02 2010, 5:56PM
“Why waste all this taxpayers' money? Why not ask someone from the North Lincs community who has done a lot of good instead of paying these overpaid people who have done absolutley nothing for North Lincolnshire and would not even be here if they were not getting paid.”
by Council Tax Payer, North Lincs
Thursday, September 02 2010, 3:44PM
“I'm sick of the Torygraph deleting anything it feels like from the comments pages.
That blog is rapidly becoming the only reliable source of news for Scunthorpe. You won't see me weeping when the Torygraph (owned by The Daily Mail) finally shuts down.”
by Bill Cheetham, Bonby
Thursday, September 02 2010, 3:36PM
“PS My comment relates to a previous and deleted post and to the valid points raised on this blog: http://www.visitscunthorpe.com/Scunthorpe-News.asp?Headline=More+local+bias+in+the+Evening+Telegraph&Article=132”
by Dan, Scunny
Thursday, September 02 2010, 2:05PM
“Kind of touched on earlier by another poster but surely this is going to be a drop in the ocean compared to the likes of U2, Take That and The Killers etc that NLC are going to fill the Baths with. Oh wait...”
by Bill Cheetham, Bonby
Thursday, September 02 2010, 1:12PM
“This one really does qualify as a storm in the teacup, given the impact of £9300 over 5 years on 70,000 plus Nth Lincs bills for council tax and business rates!
Hardly one to defend the blatant and continual bias, inconsistencies and double standards of the Telegraph's reporting? OR to lose an opportunity to expose the ST's lack of equal resolve and recent failure to report on other community's and the Tax Payers Alliance doubts and concerns over the unwarranted increases in one parish precepts over the last 3 years; putting additional increases of £50 on its council tax bills.
But before jumping to conclusions, I would be interested in the wording of the ST's Freedom of Information FOI request and more importantly, NLC's exact response to that FOI request.
From experience, I would not put it past the ineptitude of this council and it could well be that the ST are reporting exactly what NLC has given them?!
Maybe the ST news editors will oblige?!!”