A ROW over "free" tickets for concerts at Harrogate International Centre (HIC) involving the town's MP and the borough's mayor has been resolved - with any hint of impropriety ruled out.
Trouble flared in April when the only Labour member of the borough council, Councillor Andy Wright, complained about the practice of issuing both people with four tickets for events at the centre and at The Royal Hall, a situation which goes back to local government reorganisation nearly 30 years ago.
MP Phil Willis, a former leader of the council, got his tickets in his capacity as chairman of the centre's board, which turned the venue into a profit-making operation.
Under hire conditions, HIC retains 20 seats in the centre and 14 at the Royal Hall and frequently gives some of them to local charities for use as prizes, and it is from these that the civic allocations were made.
Councillors asked leader Geoff Webber to investigate and he has decided the system should be changed, with the mayor and MP only given tickets on request. The move has been agreed by Coun Wright and Tory leader Mike Gardner.
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