The Regional Partners

May14, 2000

[NCEEMs glossy brochure]The sudden collapse of NCEEM, just 8 months after it's official launch, shocked many observers, but it's directors had been aware of it's financial difficulties for some time.

The crash, in November 1999, with debts of £400,000, brought a statement from NCEEM boss Iain Copping:

"What's happened is that some of the income we were anticipating from various sources has been delayed through circumstances beyond our control."

It has been suggested that this "anticipated income" amounted to as much as £350,000, but none of NCEEM's directors are willing to publicly name the sources of this "expected" funding.

Is there any evidence to support the implication that NCEEM was in some way "let down" by others, behind the scenes?

KDIS investigates...

PARTNERS

An obvious potential source of funding for NCEEM was through sponsorship. In this regard NCEEM certainly claimed the support of some major regional players.

In a glossy brochure NCEEM lists it's "partners" as Yorkshire Water, BT, ASDA and the Greenbank Trust. Each was linked directly with the board of NCEEM.

[NCEEM lists its partners] Companies House records show just 5 directors in total from the 2 companies set up to run NCEEM:

However, both Yorkshire Water and BT also seem to have had their own members on the board of NCEEM. The glossy NCEEM brochure lists Mike Hughes of BT as "Chairman of NCEEM" and Yorkshire Water admit that one of it's "senior managers", Geoff Roberts, was a director of NCEEM.

Still others attended NCEEM board meetings in different capacities. Wealthy Yorkshire businessman John Ashcroft attended as an "observer" in his role with the Government backed "Regional Innovation Strategy".

YORKSHIRE WATER

Yorkshire Water seems to have played a significant role with NCEEM and it's forerunner - Keighley Business Forum's Waste Minimisation Project.

When KBF organised the "Trans Atlantic Environmental Conference" in November 1998, Yorkshire Water was the "main sponsor".

[Kevin Bond - former Chief Exec of Yorkshire Water]Yorkshire Water's boss, Kevin Bond, was one of the main speakers, along with government minister John Battle.

When KBF collapsed last year, liquidators noted a dispute over the ownership of "water saving devices held by Yorkshire Water". Their report went on: "The directors (of KBF) are of the opinion that stock of approximately £25,000 was gifted to the company. Representatives of Yorkshire Water have indicated ownership has never been passed."

When NCEEM broke away from KBF in April 1999, Yorkshire Water was listed by NCEEM as a "partner" and Yorkshire Water admitted that one of it's "senior managers did act as a director of NCEEM."

Certainly Yorkshire Water was an obvious potential source of funds through it's landfill tax credit scheme - it's "Environmental Community Trust" donated £2.4 million to regional environmental projects in 1998/99 through this scheme.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water told KDIS: "Dr (Kevin) Bond did not attend any board meetings of NCEEM and was not a director of the organisation.

"Yorkshire Water supported the principle behind the setting up of the organisation but did not provide any financial support to it. One of our senior managers did act as a director of NCEEM, but that was the extent of our involvement."

Coincidentally, 2 weeks after that statement was issued, Dr Kevin Bond "resigned by mutual consent" as Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water.

REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY (RIS)

Kevin Bond was also linked to NCEEM through a scheme called the "Regional Innovation Strategy", which was set up "to develop more cost effective ways of supporting innovation by business in this region." It was run through a company called RTN Ltd, backed by the Regional Government Office and Yorkshire Forward, and funded by Europe.

Kevin Bond sat on the board of RIS as "champion" of it's "Environmental Industries Sector", which was launched in March 1999 by Energy minister John Battle.

Tony Haynes, chief executive of RTN Ltd told KDIS:

"RIS (& RTN) was aware of NCEEM and the Envirospace Development and were supportive of the Envirospace concept via the RIS Environmental Industries group, however RIS or RTN has never provided or promised to provide funding for either NCEEM or Envirospace. We were both surprised and concerned when NCEEM went into liquidation as we believed that the Envirospace Web Based Portal had the potential to offer significant business benefits to businesses in our region if it had developed as originally planned."

The chairman of RIS is Graham Hall - the Chief Executive of Yorkshire Electricity and chairman of Yorkshire Forward. Yorkshire Forward are currently investigating what happened to a £256,000 grant it gave Keighley Business Forum in 1998.

Project Director for RIS is John Ashcroft. Ashcroft has many business interests and is a director of KMP Internet which own the Envirospace web site and which were the major creditors of NCEEM, losing over £90,000.

Ashcroft told KDIS: "As RIS Project Director I was aware of NCEEM and did attend some of their early meetings as an observer."

"I can assure you that RIS never promised NCEEM any funding."

It is a view that is supported by at least one NCEEM director, who told KDIS:

"To be honest, there was a lot of hot air flying around. There was an expectation and hope that money would be forthcoming, but as far as I could see, there was never anything solid, nothing in writing."

John Ashcroft, a businessman who commands a certain respect in the region, rejects completely the suggestion that NCEEM was let down by others:

"Remember, if you spend what you have not got then that is just sheer bad management, so in my book the reason for the collapse appears quite clear."

The Regional players
[Kevin Bond] Dr Kevin Bond BA Msc PhD - Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water Plc from January 1997 to April 2000. Chairman of the Environmental Industries Sector of RIS. Was also Chairman of Yorkshire Water Services Limited and Yorkshire Environmental Limited. A Director of Leeds TEC. Former Police Chief Superintendent before becoming Chief Executive of the National Rivers Authority (NRA).
[Graham Hall] Graham Hall, Yorkshire Forward's Chairman. Hall is also Chairman of the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS), Vice-Chairman of the CBI Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Council, a member of the CBI Presidents' and National Council, and a member of the Yorkshire Initiative. He is Chief Executive of Yorkshire Electricity Group
[John Ashcroft] John Ashcroft  BSc (Hons) - Project Director of the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS). Ashcroft is the former Chief Executive of the Optimum Group Ltd. Director of a number of high-tech companies, including KMP Internet. A director of the Earth Centre. Formerly sat on the board of Leeds Eastern Health Authority. Joined the board of Yorkshire Forward in December 1999.

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