Fresh scrutiny of firm's £480k Covid-19 grant bid

Sacha Lord is the night-time economy adviser to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

A firm's application for £480,000 in Covid-19 support grants is under fresh scrutiny.

Arts Council England said it was doing "additional checks" on Manchester-based Primary Events Solutions' bid after receiving "new information".

A story on news website The Mill raised questions about the extent of the company's role in creative events.

The firm - which denied any wrongdoing - said it would "support and fully cooperate with the new checks".

'Additional checks'

Earlier this week, the company's co-owner Sacha Lord - a night-time economy adviser to Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham - described the news site's claims as "defamatory and factually incorrect".

"We vehemently disagree with information and statements presented in the article and strongly dispute the accuracy, reliability and transparency of its sources," he added.

The Parklife and Warehouse Project co-founder is one of three owners of the firm, which was awarded £401,928 from the recovery fund that was administered by Arts Council England.

The fund was set up by the government to help the heritage and culture sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Grants from £50,000 up to a maximum of £3m were available through the scheme.

Public documents show Primary Events Solutions, which had been called Primary Security until a few months before the bid, had applied for more than £480,000.

In statement, Arts Council England said: "In light of new information that has been directly brought to our attention this week, we will be conducting additional checks on the application from Primary Event Solutions."

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has started its own "fact-finding exercise" based on the new information, a spokesman added.

The authority welcomed the Arts Council's decision to "undertake additional checks and will co-operate with this week".

Mayor Andy Burnham said claims would "be looked at properly", but called for "some balance and recognition" of his unpaid adviser's impact on Greater Manchester's nightlife

He told BBC Radio Manchester there was a "sense of a bit of a campaign that's being launched" against Mr Lord, who he said had done an "outstanding job" for the region.