Welcome to Yorkshire had a 'spend now worry later' culture

Welcome to Yorkshire runs the UK's biggest domestic cycling race, the Tour De Yorkshire

The new chairman of troubled tourist agency Welcome to Yorkshire (WtY) has said it had "a culture of spend now, worry about it later".

Wakefield Council leader Peter Box was appointed after local authorities agreed to inject £1m to keep the the organisation going.

A report had shown the body would have run out of money by next month.

Figures also show it spent £250,000 on this year's Chelsea Flower Show, more than three times the allotted budget.

Mr Box, who will stand down from the council next month, released two reports, one looking into the organisation's finances and another at its future.

"It's clear to me, from reading both reports that governance and strategic oversight of the operations of WtY have been largely absent," he said.

"Financial planning was not robust enough which led to a culture of spend now, worry about it later".

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Mr Box has made the reports public and "they don't make for easy reading in places", he said.

"Welcome to Yorkshire has made a huge difference to the tourist economy over the last few years, that should never be forgotten."

The organisation "has a real future" but would make sure its future events were "value for money", he added.

WtY's former chief executive Sir Gary Verity resigned in March on health grounds, but later faced complaints about his behaviour and expenses.

A spokesman for Sir Gary previously said he denied all allegations of wrongdoing.