A high-profile row with Durham County Council has left philanthropist and founder of The Auckland Project and Kynren, Jonathan Ruffer “angry and frustrated”.
Since Mr Ruffer arrived in Bishop Auckland in 2012, he has invested the equivalent of £50,000 a day into the town. However, he is now ‘mulling over’ the future funding of The Auckland Project (TAP) and his other regeneration projects.
Collaborate
Following several meetings and discussions, Mr Ruffer accused Durham County Council of failing to collaborate with stakeholders in spending the £53m allocated to Bishop Auckland from the Government’s special Levelling Up Funds.
In a letter sent to the Levelling Up Minister, Michael Gove, Mr Ruffer insisted his stance was not an idle threat and suggested that sometimes the best way to help a community was to “stop helping it”.
He wrote: “Durham County Council is forcing me to a decision which I never thought I would face: to suspend all future payments from The Auckland Project until the situation is resolved. If it is not resolved, then the project will end.
“As a result of my money, Bishop Auckland has been awarded, exceptionally, no less than £53m through the Government’s Future High Street Fund and the Stronger Towns Fund. Money from the latter is given to a Town Board, made up of local people whose duty is to represent the town in the spending of the money on its behalf.”
Durham County Council have said it could not hand over control of public funds to Mr Ruffer but that they were keen on “collaborating” further with the philanthropist in the future.
Disappointed
Leader of the county council, Cllr Amanda Hopgood, said: “We are disappointed to hear that Mr Ruffer is considering his future in County Durham. We know we have an exceptional opportunity for Bishop Auckland and we have achieved the scale of investment we have received so far together.
“The government’s funding in our area is a reflection of a belief in Bishop Auckland and County Durham’s potential. We cannot always comply with specific demands that are made in respect of public money.
“We understand that Mr Ruffer is requesting more direct control of central government funding that is allocated to the county council for investment in Bishop Auckland in consultation with communities.
“The funding that has been awarded is based on specific programmes that we are expected to deliver under the government’s guidance and grant terms and the council, therefore, has a legal duty to be responsible for these funds.
“We remain keen to work with Mr Ruffer and his team, and hope that we can find a collaborative solution of working together for the benefit of our communities.”
Secretive
However, Mr Ruffer has accused the county council of failing to live up to its words and of breaking rules about how decisions on where the money is spent are taken.
He wrote: “Durham County Council has taken it upon itself to make the executive decisions on this, and has done so secretively and with a high hand notwithstanding clear rules as to where these responsibilities lie: with the Town Board and not with the council.”
Access road
Within the £53m investment around £15.7m of the money has been allocated to an eastern access road from the A688 near Coundon which will take the anticipated 1.5m visitors a year away from the centre of the town.
Mr Ruffer said: “The proposed road will take the gridlock out of Bishop Auckland but we have been kept in the dark about it.
“We were working on it going from one place and then we find out after six months, the council has been working on it going from another place.
“It is that attitude that is not appropriate, particularly when they talk of openness and partnership.
“I have no problem with that, that’s exactly the way the relationship should work, but now the council is making it clear that it will do what it wants with that money and not the board, the board is being squeezed out.”
Partnership
Mr Ruffer added: “This a sign that is simply to say what you [the council] are doing is not proper behaviour and when you return to proper behaviour then no-one will be happier that I to switch the taps back on.
“I am not turning my back on the town. I am doing exactly the reverse. I am bringing DCC into partnership for the benefit of the town.”
A PDF version of the full Bishop Auckland Stronger Towns Investment Plan can be viewed on the Durham County Council website.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
