Culture trust shuns second scrutiny meeting

Coventry City of Culture Trust entered administration in February

Board members from a collapsed City of Culture Trust have shunned a second invitation to a scrunity meeting.

Coventry City Council invited all 21 board members to a meeting on Wednesday but only one attended.

The council is seeking answers following the collapse of Coventry City of Culture Trust in February, leaving unpaid debts.

A three-year legacy programme of events after Coventry's year as City of Culture in 2021 will no longer proceed.

The local authority has called for a government-led inquiry and the Charity Commission has confirmed it is examining the trust's finances.

Labour councillor Randhir Aucluck chaired the meeting and said the one board member who did attend, former chair David Burbidge, had been "very reassuring".

"So I think it would have been enormously helpful if more members of the trust had joined us," she said.

"I think it would have added to reassuring the committee that matters had been handled appropriately rather than leaving doubts that perhaps things took place in a way that wasn't appropriate."

The trust was due to deliver a three-year legacy programme of events

It is the second time board members from the City of Culture Trust have declined an invitation to attend a scrutiny meeting, however the council said this time it had recieved written responses from 14.

The meeting heard more details about the trust's financial situation before it entered administration earlier this year.

It was revealed that the trust was expecting a large grant worth about £1m which never materialised, creating a cash flow problem that could not be recovered.

Councillors also heard the cost of the legacy programme had been underestimated.

Initially forecast to cost £3.4m, it was revised a few months later up to £5.2m but the reason for this jump was not explained.

There is cross-party consensus within Coventry City Council, which previously agreed a £1m loan to the trust, that a government inquiry should take place.

Tim Sawdon, the Conservative shadow cabinet member for scrutiny, told the BBC he was "really concerned" that the legacy programme had fallen by the wayside.

"We need to get to the bottom of it quickly so we can reassure people as to whether it was run properly," he said.

"A large amount of government money went into it which is why I think there ought to be a more national look at it."