UK City of Culture 2025: Lancashire County Council will not revive bid

Lancashire has dropped its attempt to become the first county to win the title

A call for Lancashire County Council (LCC) to resurrect its bid to become UK City of Culture 2025 has been rejected.

In June, LCC dropped its attempt to become the first county to win the title, saying the £22m needed to back it was "too great a financial risk".

Council leader Phillippa Williamson said discussions had been held with the organisations involved ahead of Monday's bid deadline.

The Labour opposition group said the decision was "short-sighted".

Blackpool aims to welcome more visitors to its shows and attractions as the coronavirus pandemic recedes

The idea to scrap the bid angered those who had worked on the project for two years, as well as opposition politicians and art organisations.

Lancashire's All-Party Parliamentary Group also wanted the bid to be revived, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

At a council meeting on Thursday, Labour group opposition leader Azhar Ali demanded to know what had changed in the 12 months since the council's previous Conservative cabinet had agreed to spend £620,000 on a pitch.

Ms Williamson said an extra £2.5m was still required to get the bid to the point of submission on Monday.

Lancashire was hoping to promote landmarks like Burnley's Singing Ringing Tree

In recent days, Derbyshire has indicated it will join Bradford, Southampton and Medway in the race for the culture crown.

Mr Ali said Derbyshire's actions amounted to "pinching our idea" of making a bid covering an entire county rather than a single city.

Coventry started its year as UK City of Culture in June, while previous title-holder Hull saw £300m in tourism spending generated during its year in the spotlight in 2017.

LCC deputy leader Alan Vincent said he had to consider "all the potential risks and costs" of making a bid should expected funds from central government and organisations like the Arts Council not materialise.

He told the meeting that the proposal, as it stood, projected that Lancashire would spend £8m from "the public purse" on delivering a successful bid - half of which would come from the county council.

Mr Vincent said while that only represented just over 15% of the likely bill, it would still leave the bid team having to find "a great deal more money…from other sources" than either the current or previous title-holders Coventry and Hull, whose local authorities each contributed just over 18%.

He added that this would equate to another £1.89m.

He said there had been "uncertainty" about how much other local authority partners, including Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Preston and Lancaster councils, would contribute.

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