Coventry City of Culture trust defends asking for £1m loan

Legacy events for Coventry City of Culture are due to go on until 2024

Coventry City of Culture Trust has defended its application for a £1m loan from the local council.

Chief executive Martin Sutherland said the trust had not overspent but was facing "short-term cash flow" problems and the loan would be repaid.

Coventry was the 2021 UK City of Culture and while its tenure ended in May, further legacy events are planned which could be jeopardised.

On Tuesday, Coventry City Council said the loan made sense.

A report to the authority said the trust's finances had been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the timing of some payments it was due.

It said the loan was not without financial risk as the trust had only secured 54% of its expected income for the legacy phase.

Martin Sutherland said he was confident the trust would repay the loan

Mr Sutherland conceded the trust had "some less successful shows over the summer", but said the shortfall was mainly due to "grants that haven't been paid".

"We're confident we'll raise the funds required to pay this back," he said.

Without the council's support, he said the trust would have to "curtail some of our activities" and "not deliver on some of the legacy ambitions we've got".

The councillor responsible for finance, Richard Brown, will now consider the report on the loan request before making a decision next week.

Mr Sutherland said he hoped people would recognise the loan would "protect all the investment to date".

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Sutherland also defended having Martin Reeves, the chief executive of Coventry City Council, as a trustee, insisting he "has not been involved with any of the conversations around the loan".