WARRINGTON looks set to bid to become a City of Culture.
Members of the borough council’s controlling labour group are looking at putting a preliminary bid together next year according to a Labour source.
This follows on from Warrington being voted “bottom of the league” for culture last year when the town was ranked bottom at 325th on a list compiled by the Royal Society of Arts, designed to help local authorities make better use of their assets, with the report making headlines in the national press.
The Society based their league table on an area’s list of interesting assets such as Listed Buildings, museums and archaeological finds.
Many believed the findings were unjust and now the council is looking at setting the record straight by bidding to become a UK City of Culture.
Terry O’Neill – keen for Warrington to gain city status
Although still not technically a city, Labour group leader Cllr Terry O’Neill has made no secret of his ambition to gain city status for Warrington – and to qualify, it is not necessary to be a city, as such.
Preparing a City of Culture can be an opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city’s image and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale.
Hull is set to be a UK City of Culture in 2017.
A Labour party source told warrington-worldwide:”We need to get a bid in to qualify in time for next year but we believe it is doable and a chance to set the record straight after unjustly hitting the headlines for coming bottom of the league for culture last year.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “It is still at a very early stage and no decision has been made yet. But there has been talk of putting a bid together to become a UK City of Culture in light of the unjust RSA report.”
7 Comments
Perhaps this recognition might change the outlook of council adminstrations and planners from here on in towards preserving what few vestiges of the town’s culture they and their predecessors have allowed remain. Hopefully it might introduce a step change in the way future developments in the borough are overseen, dealt with and enforced.
In the interim, something will have to be done to address Warrington’s low standing in the World Health Organisation’s and British Lung Foundation’s league table of levels of pollution.
I doubt anything will change the outlook of council administrations and planners here in Warrington. Most certainly NOT a bid for ‘City of Culture’. The granting of this title has nothing to do with ‘culture’ as you or I understand the term, it is to provide an excuse to use public money to benefit greedy developers and talentless architects. As stated in the news article “it can help foster urban regeneration” which we know from experience to Andy Farrel etc. means a free hand to destroy our heritage buildings and replace them with cheap and nasty monstrosities. Notice that there is no mention of the costs (from the public purse) which will be needed even just as preparation for this bid, Hull’s ‘preparation costs’ alone exceeded £10 million! The invention of such ‘competitions’ was never meant to enhance Britain’s cultural assets but merely to protect the interests of developers and ensure that they could continue to profit whilst the rest of society endure further ‘austerity’ cuts. The whole ‘austerity movement’ has never been anything but a farce and a means of directing wealth into a few greedy hands whilst robbing the rest of the country blind. Notice that there are never any awards for social progress. Rather than ‘City for Culture’ a more meaningful award would be ‘Places of Progress’ where the winning criteria would be the elimination of poverty, no necessity for food banks, no homelessness, good social care facilities for the elderly, disabled and vulnerable, improvements in public health etc. etc. etc. But of course that would never happen because it would mean public money would be spent on the public instead of handed over to developers.
With regard to culture the only title that would presently befit Warrington is ‘Town of Tat’.
My original comments Sha were made more in hope than expectation. However, I looked on line for a formal description of what being UK City of Culture 2017 might entail, how bids would be funded etc., and came across ‘culture.gov.uk’.
Disconcertingly it stated “If you wish to submit a bid for UK City of Culture 2017, you must register by 28th February 2013” and went to say “We anticipate that the announcement of the UK City of Culture 2017 will take place in Derry-Londonderry in November 2013.”
Apparently, ‘it is the responsibility of each area to develop its own bid using its own resources and those of its partners. There is no national funding available to pay for the costs of bidding. Also, as noted above, DCMS and the expert assessors will not be able to provide detailed or specific advice and guidance to assist the development of bids.’
Culture is generally taken to include the following areas: arts (including visual arts, literature, music, theatre and dance), architecture, crafts, creative industries, design, heritage, historic environment, museums and galleries, libraries, archives, film, broadcasting and media. The assessing panel expects to see a range of these areas included in bids and cultural programmes. The applicant may also choose to include sport and science, but these should not be major elements of your bid and programme.
I’ve tried to do my bit by promoting Warrington wherever I have been and I’ve often told people how well the Town is doing in league tables of cities – in fact many people think that we are a city. Check out my art heritage competition https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1720367761563393.1073742018.1627293587537478&type=3 and please vote. When I arrived in Warrington 30 plus years ago with asthma it was really bad the quality has got a bit better but not much.
Geoff, no one who knows you doubts your commitment to the town, borough and their collective heritage. It is the others who espouse an affinity and empathy, but time and again have failed to honour those objectives.
Thanks – I’ve been able to do more this year because I’ve been Mayor so I’ve had a platform a week on Monday that will no longer be the case. I will have to find another way.
How on earth can Warrington bid to become a City of Culture when it is destroying the town’s library service.