Scaled-down festival was £80k over budget

Sep 6 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THE budget for the Mathew Street Festival was overspent by £80,000, despite the vast majority of the festival not going ahead, the Daily Post can reveal.

Last night, deputy Labour leader Paul Brant revealed the cost for the scaled-down festival stood at £480,000 and rising.

It is the latest revelation in a fiasco that has dogged the city since the cancellation of the festival’s famous outdoor stages more than five weeks ago.

It came as councillors debated the fall-out from the event at last night’s full council meeting, when Labour councillors renewed calls for a QC to conduct an independent investigation into the shambles, and called for council leader Warren Bradley to resign.

The Liberal Democrat- dominated council voted down both Labour’s proposals, and said they would wait for the result of an internal inquiry by city chief executive Colin Hilton.

But the Lib-Dems did agree to bring in an independent investigator to “report upon the findings within the report”, if that was “considered necessary” by the city council.

The ruling group defeated a Labour vote of no confidence in Cllr Bradley, and gave him a standing ovation at the meeting.

Earlier this week, the Daily Post revealed the council spent £680,000 on the three-day event in 2006, which attracted more than 300,000 people, making it £180,000 over budget.

This year, the budget was cut from £500,000 to £400,000.

After yesterday’s meeting, Cllr Brant said: “It is my understanding that even without the outdoor stages the bill for the 2007 festival is £480,000 and rising.

“This clearly shows they could never deliver it for £400,000. It was unrealistic.”

A council spokesman said the final figures were not yet available and the cost was still being calculated. It is not known what the money was spent on for the scaled-back 2007 event, which ran over just two days and attracted 60,000 visitors on the Sunday.

Cllr Bradley said: “I have not seen the bills. But in my mind it is not about what was spent this year, but what we do next year.”

He said outline plans would be presented to the Safety Advisory Group, which has to give the final go-ahead for outdoor events, by the end of the month.

During the meeting convened to debate the issue, barrister Cllr Brant said it was the worst public relations disaster to hit the city in a generation.

“The inquiry must be independent because it must reach the right answers and it must have the confidence of the wider business community and public.

“There are so many embarrassed backs to be covered within the confines of the town hall and political leadership that it is essential we have an independent inquiry.”

Cllr Mike Storey, executive member for regeneration, said: “Getting a Queen’s Counsel, depending on the quality, you are probably talking about £2,000 a day.

“Probably, knowing this council, it could ramble on for days and months, it could end up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“We don’t need a witch hunt. Let’s have the chief executive carry out a prompt and efficient inquiry.”

But Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson said a series of revelations over the past weeks made the need for a public inquiry more urgent now.

“This is the leadership that brought us Robyn Archer. This is the leadership that brought us the Henshaw/Storey saga. This is the leadership that brought us the Mathew Street Festival, and this is the leadership that is going to bring you down.”

Leader of the minority Liberal group, Cllr Steve Radford, said an independent inquiry was needed.

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davidbartlett@dailypost.co.uk