Legal wrangles over festival report

Nov 14 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

Mathew Street festival (320)

LEGAL wrangles have been blamed for the continued delay in the publication of the report into the fiasco surrounding the cancellation of large parts of the Mathew Street Festival.

Lib-Dem council leader Warren Bradley last night revealed Liverpool council had been sent a solicitor’s letter from one of the people that gave evidence to the inquiry.

It is understood the letter relates to issues surrounding possible defamation of an individual.

Cllr Bradley insisted he hoped to publish the long-anticipated report soon but needed to be sure the council was on a sound legal footing before it went into the public domain.

But Labour leader Joe Anderson said it was yet more excuses from Cllr Bradley about the report could not be published.

He said he had written to the Information Commissioner about the refusal of Cllr Bradley and the council to let his party have sight of the report.

Cllr Anderson said he continued to believe a cover-up was being perpetrated and he want- ed to see the original re- port so he could com- pare it with the final version.

Meanwhile Jason Harborow, chief executive of the Culture Company, which was behind the organisation of the ill-fated festival over the August bank holiday weekend, is still signed off work.

He is expected back at work on Monday when his latest sick-note for a long standing health condition runs out.

The Daily Post understands the report will clear Mr Harborow of any wrong-doing in the fiasco. It is also expected to examine funding issues surrounding the Mathew Street Festival and the 800th birthday parade that took place on the Tuesday after the bank holiday.

The chain of command for reporting health and safety issues that caused the cancellation of the outdoor stages, is also likely to be scrutinised.

Cllr Bradley said: “We had a solicitor’s letter in from one of the witnesses, and we are bottoming that out.” He said the council had to go through the “nitty gritty” of that before the report could be published.