Swansea Council leader defends accepting Liberty invites
SWANSEA Council's leader has defended accepting hospitality at the Liberty Stadium for football matches, rugby games and concerts.
Chris Holley has come under fire from the Labour group in Swansea.
He has accepted hospitality from the Ospreys and Swansea 66 times since January 2010. Mr Holley was also a guest of the Stadium Management Company for the JLS and Rod Stewart concerts.
Other cabinet members including Mike Day and Graham Thomas have also accepted hospitality.
Members of the Labour Party, including leader David Phillips, Robert Francis-Davies and Nick Bradley said Councillor Holley should be using the council box to help attract investment instead of accepting invitations to other corporate boxes at the stadium.
Mr Francis-Davies said: "I find Councillor Holley's behaviour excessive, indulgent and unreasonable. Instead of using the council-owned box to entertain local businesses or attracting new businesses, he has been accepting grace and favour freebies from a private company."
Labour has previously demanded to know the details of hospitality accepted by cabinet members at the Liberty Stadium over the past two years, along with the market rate of the hospitality provided and the cost of hospitality per person in the council's box.
Chris Holley responded with a list of hospitality accepted and the cost of food and drink in the council's box, which is £22.03 per person.
Mr Holley said he accepted hospitality in order to network and boost the profile of the city.
He said Swansea Council and the Welsh Government used the authority's box to invite businesses from across Wales to the city, including Norgren, DTR Medical and Cellnass.
"The Welsh Government has used the box, with the Business Minister Edwina Hart, using it," he said. "The main reason is to encourage people to invest in Swansea, which we have done with the Welsh Government. And they pay towards that.
"Originally we hadn't had a great deal of success, but working with the Welsh Government we have a wider reach. Working with them has proven to be successful.
The council leader said voluntary services used the council box also as a way to thank volunteers.
Mr Holley said all his accepted invitations were in the public domain.
Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins said: "We invite a number of people from a variety of organisations as guests for most games. Graham Thomas represents the council as chairman of the Stadium Management Company and we expect him to be present, while Chris Holley is leader of the council and represents the local authority as a whole, whatever political party they are from.
"As far as the football club is concerned, it's not about politics. We firmly believe that the stadium and the football club are of paramount importance to the whole of Swansea no matter what political party you are a member of.
"Rather than score political points off each other, perhaps certain members of the council should concentrate on promoting and developing what's best for the city and its constituents instead."
helen.keates@swwmedia.co.uk
26 Comments
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by PJL1967
Friday, February 10 2012, 1:12PM
“Apparently, there are also unanswered questions as to what happened to the 'spare' seats accepted by councillors but who were recorded as hosting hospitality events elsewhere on the day. http://tinyurl.com/6scpww5”
by fred65
Friday, February 10 2012, 12:53PM
“The sad reality is most of these political animals would not hold down a job in the real world to me they come over as self serving opportunists but the hypocrisy of the labour party will take some beating! expenses- http://tinyurl.com/mpt2d › News › News Topics › MPs' expenses At the next election I am voting for the Raving loonie party they are the only ones that have not lied to us”
by tawse57
Friday, February 10 2012, 11:45AM
“Is there anything else that we - the Public - should be made aware of Mr. Holley?”
by Dooyah
Friday, February 10 2012, 11:42AM
“proudwelshman
You seem to have support, so I suggest that you read:-
"House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges
Mr Peter Hain
Second Report of Session 2008–09"
Click on http://tinyurl.com/6wwf7d3 to view a copy.
If you can find evidence that the person had £100,000 in a "made up company account", please report it to the Police.
Do not rely on rumours that come from an obnoxious, extreme right-wing organisation.”
by griffin1
Friday, February 10 2012, 11:03AM
“i wonder if there were any hospitality offered from mc donalds
at the stadium”
by Dooyah
Thursday, February 09 2012, 11:19PM
“proudwelshman
The last sentence in your posting of 10:25pm is a malicious libel. You refer to a bank account that was not in the name of the person. You refer to a bank account to which the person was not a signatory and that person had no access to the account.
HMRC (tax man to you), the Police, the Media and Parliament are aware of the facts.
I had serious doubts about you, proudwelshman, right from the time you made your first posting to the SWEP website. Now I know just what a low-life you are.”
by chelsea1955
Thursday, February 09 2012, 10:51PM
“they are all on the fiddle, scratch my back and i'll scratch your ****”
by proudwelshman
Thursday, February 09 2012, 10:25PM
“Let's not forget that it is the Labour Party opposition that are complaining.
Before the last council elections Neath Port Talbot Council Leader Derek Vaughan and Deputy leader Ali Thomas were defending their invite to Hospitality boxes in the Milennium Stadium, Cardiff where they had been chauffer driven!!!
Labour have very bad memories.
Remember Peter Hain forgetting to tell the tax man that he had £100,000 in his made up company account.”
by flepwales
Thursday, February 09 2012, 4:32PM
“If a private company or person is offering you something for nothing they either fancy you or they want something from you, if you accept then you know you will be required to return the favour at some point. It could be seen as dodgy at best, out and out corruption at worse. The question to ask is "would Chris Holley have been given these free perks if he didn`t hold a prominent position on the council" ?”
by antyall
Thursday, February 09 2012, 4:30PM
“Going to corporate "PRIVATE" boxes who are you meting what deals are being done, Why do things that are not open and dont raise suspicion, Who uses the council box if The leader is not using it? The box must be there for entertaining people to benefit Swansea can he show what we have benefited out of this? Will he be entertaining at the new proposed club in York street?
Holly appears to never say what is going on Elections soon watch him try to pull a blinder or retire.”