York’s Lord Mayor has taken to the airwaves to claim that she is the victim of a “witch hunt”

Not perhaps the best of analogies only a few days before Halloween

The latest row seems to have arisen from more Emails from the Lord Mayor to various Council officials have been released under Freedom of information legislation

One set (click) goes into more detail about supposed problems with accommodation and the Mayoral chains. It turns out that the same accommodation was made available for the current post-holder, in the Guildhall, as had been used by a previous Lord Mayor during renovation works some 15 years ago.

Much of the content of the Email exchanges is anodyne and what one would expect from any civic head.

However it is now clear that

• The Lord Mayor was officially warned not to accept hospitality and accommodation from a City Centre hotel (as they had a pending planning application lodged with the Council)
• That the (replica) civic chain was re-gilded in early September. However a media briefing had previously given the reason for the Lord Mayor not wearing the chain at summer events as being because “it was too heavy to wear without a collared jacket”
• The Lord Mayor walked out of the launch of the Art Gallery opening in July “as a protest” connected with the admission charge controversy. Ironically, no one seems to have noticed the snub.
• The Lord Mayor is travelling extensively on official duties. A trip to North America is in the pipeline while those to Denmark and Blackpool have already taken place. The trip to the Blackpool Illuminations involved the use of the civic car (DN1) for part of the journey. The Lord Mayor has connections with Blackpool.

All in all, the tone of some of the exchanges is sometimes  less than respectful. Hopefully the next Lord Mayor – expected to be Green party nominee Cllr Dave Taylor – will be able to repair some of the damage done to the reputation of the office.