Mathew Street: Just who is running Liverpool?

Aug 3 2007 by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

Jessica Shaughnessy exclusively reveals the full story behind the Mathew Street Festival cancellation

THE Daily Post can today exclusively reveal the contents of a damning report highlighting the incompetence and mismanagement that led to the collapse of the Mathew Street Festival.

Outrage reverberated across Merseyside yesterday after the event, which was expected to boost the local economy by up to £40m, was cancelled just three weeks before it was due to go ahead.

Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley last night astonishingly revealed he was only told the world-famous festival was in danger hours before officials pulled the plug.

A leading expert on health and safety, brought in just a week ago to examine arrangements, advised Liverpool’s Culture Company and the City Council to walk away from the event because:

• A safety coordinator appeared not to have been appointed to oversee the Bank Holiday extravaganza with just a month to go;

• The Culture Company had suffered a loss of expertise with resignations and sickness leading those left having insufficient time/competence to run the event successfully;

• Little evidence of consideration being given to emergency access and crowd flows;

• Remedial action to bring the event back from the brink would take at least six months.

As Cllr Bradley demanded a full investigation into the festival’s collapse, Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow resisted calls for his resignation.

Mr Harborow blamed the loss of the Pier Head because of construction work and other regeneration projects in the city making management of the expected 100,000-strong crowds “impossible”.

He said: “I am comfortable the decision to cancel the event was the right one. It is devastating that we cannot have a Mathew Street Festival this year, but at least people will not be put in danger.

“It was a no-win situation. If we had gone ahead and there was a disaster, we would have been blamed.

“In hindsight, it would have been better if we had reached this decision earlier. But it was only left so late because we were working so hard to find a solution.

“If people want me to resign, I will talk to them about it, but I have the full support of my colleagues.

“This would have happened whoever organised the event. The Culture Company has a lot to offer next year. If me or any of my team were to leave now, it could be catastrophic to 2008.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Cllr Paul Brant, called for Warren Bradley to quit, saying as head of the town hall and a member of the culture board he should carry the can.

“This is a disaster for Liverpool’s image and he should go,” said an angry Cllr Brant.

Cllr Bradley, on holiday until this weekend, said: “This is not the time to be calling for anybody to resign but to work on making sure this kind of disaster can never happen again.”

The council leader said he was only made aware of the fears at 7pm on Wednesday night, despite the concerns of officials.

He has already ordered several senior council officers to move into the Culture Company and said he will be meeting the heads of the Culture Company as soon as he returns.

He did not rule out demanding resignations.

Cllr Bradley said: “I have regularly met with culture officials and on not one occasion has anybody raised safety concerns about Mathew Street and I just can’t believe this has happened.

“I am adamant that an alternative venue should be sought to ensure that the festival event is staged over the Bank Holiday weekend. I see no reason why these issues can not be overcome.”

An investigation he demanded into the shambles was last night already under way by chief executive Colin Hilton.

Mr Hilton said that officers had exhausted every alternative inside and outside the city centre, such as Sefton Park, St George’s Plateau and Kings Dock, but none were found to be suitable.

He said: “It was not fully appreciated the impact the loss of the Pier Head would have.

“We had to act on the advice given to us by the police and the health and safety experts. We could not ignore it.”

Mr Hilton could not even give reassurances that the event, touted as a Capital of Culture highlight, would definitely be back on track for 2008. “We are reviewing it. We will look at ways that it can be put in place.”

Furious business leaders and politicians said the explanation was a smoke-screen and the authorities had known about the problems for a year.

But Mr Hilton said alarm bells had not begun to ring until mid-June and the company commissioned to carry out the health and safety report was not brought in until last week.

Last night, moves were made to press ahead with the festival by staging acts lined up to perform on outdoor stages inside bars and clubs instead.

Bill Heckle, co-director of Cavern City Tours, the company that founded the Mathew Street Festival before it was handed over to the council, said last night he was “disappointed and embarrassed by the news”.

But he said the Culture Company and the city council had no choice but to act.

He said: “This city is particularly sensitive to disasters and there is no way this kind of health and safety advice could be ignored.

“I was only told at 8.30am this morning. I am still in a state of shock.”

When asked if he could have offered any solutions if he had been consulted at an earlier date, Mr Heckle said: “I think the answer is obvious. The important thing we have to remember is that there will still be celebrations on the Bank Holiday weekend and Beatle Week has not been affected.

“The only difference is we will not have the live stages.

“This is how the Mathew Street Festival began and 10 years ago, when the Labour Party did not have the funds for the outdoor stages, we did it again. It was a success then and it will be a success again.”

Leader of the Labour Party, Cllr Joe Anderson, blasted the ruling Liberal Democrats and said the collapse of Mathew Street was an embarrassment.

He said: “What is this going to look like to the outside world? People have been planning to come here for months for the Mathew Street Festival. They will not come back for Capital of Culture Year now.”

But Cllr Dave Antrobus, acting council leader, said hope had not completely faded to salvage the situation.

He said: “As far as we are concerned, that is not it. The problem is the ‘can’t do’ officers at the Culture Company.”