City of Culture

If it’s Government led , I’ll have a party.

 

When more of it is burnt down.

 

"Bradford, one of the most diverse places in the UK, has been named the 2025 city of culture, a prestigious accolade that attracts thousands of tourists and guarantees millions of pounds of funding and investment.

"Coventry [the outgoing city of culture] received £172m in grants and investments during its year as city of culture. The money helped fund music concerts, the UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery, a new children’s play area in the centre of the city, and improvements to public transport.

The judges said they were impressed by the ambition of Bradford’s bid which celebrated the power of diversity and aimed to create new opportunities. The bid encouraged strong local engagement with artists and residents, focused on creating a sense of local pride, the judges said."

Snippets from taken The Guardian.

 

Can you imagine Bradford council being let loose with £172 million? You'd get better value sticking it on the roulette table

 

The backslapping is already at cringe level 10. Like they've somehow won something, all lining up to congratulate each other and for what exactly? That we live in an ethnically diverse city? Whoopy fecking do.

 

Finally our new stadium and training facilities are on their way…

 

I stupidly went onto the T&A website - the headlines alone made me want to wang my phone against the wall.

 

If it generates £700m and creates 3.000 jobs that has to be good news, well done to those who put the City forward and the work they have done to win the City of Culture for Bradford.

 

What if it only improves the quality of some without makes others worse?

 

From a quick look at Coventry they planned to spend about £45m with £32m coming from the local combined authority with the rest coming from the City. That was on infrastructure plans for it

 

Then , in my eyes those that gain nothing ie not made worse, have seen the cash spent for no benefits to them? I said benefits everyone in the City.

 

I can guarantee now that now EVERYONE will not have their life improved. There will always be some that don't which could be for a number of reasons. They could already have an extremely well off, alternatively they may not partake, or a numebr of other reasons. Saying you want any scheme to benefit EVERYONE in a city mean you may as well never bother with anything.

 

Why not have an ambition to see everyone benefit? Surely that’s a good thing. If it leaves a long term , as opposed to short term , FULLY funded legacy then fine, I’m happy with that.

 

But to call it not worthwhile if EVERYONE does see an improvement just guarantees failure on that level

 

So will it be a fully funded legacy or a millstone ? There’s an awful lot that can be done to everybody’s benefit but sadly I doubt it will be . That’s my only concern.

 

Suppose it depends what you mean by fully funded. Looking at Coventry they got a load of grants for events etc and then funds from extended local government, regional level, and the local council put some funds in to. Now apparently it was redistribution of funds rather than new money.

 

Structure A is built. It costs £1m a year to run, the Government funds running costs for two years, by increasing local Gov funding by £1m a year for two years( Forget inflation) . After two years the £1 extra funding is withdrawn . The structure runs at a loss, and closes. That’s what I’m getting at…. We all know a Gov, especially this bunch, change policy more frequently than is healthy. Hope that explains somewhat?

 

How exactly as a Bradfordian of 50 years is this city of culture going to benefit me or my life or the people of this city? Are we going to see long term benefits in terms of infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, roads and rail links that are barely fit for purpose? Once the circus has left town what's exactly will be the lasting legacy left behind after they've managed to chew through 10s of millions of pounds of tax payers money? I remember the council trying their hardest to get the Odeon demolished, or when they claimed city park outside city hall brought in £80 million of revenue into the city each year despite having no tangible evidence to prove it. I'm like you Kev, I believe the money could be far better spent

 

Not sure why anyone even bothers try as all some people do is piss on it before it has happened or the plans for the infrastructure improvements etc are actually finalised

 

the council don't run it. There's a Ltd company set up specifically for this, chaired by shanaz gulzar