AN INQUIRY is to be held into Liverpool’s showcase visitor centre, amid fears it no longer serves a useful purpose and cannot be afforded after the end of Capital of Culture.
The rent on the 08 Place is £220,000 a year and its hi-tech TV screens cost £60,000 to run annually.
Controversially, the council signed a 10-year lease on the Whitechapel building which does not expire until November, 2013, and has an option to extend it until 2018.
Senior Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Kemp is heading up the inquiry and said last night he hoped to have reached a conclusion by Christmas.
“We will be looking at whether it is a liability or an asset. If we consider it a liability, how do we get out of it as soon as possible?” he said last night.
Last night, the Labour opposition said the inquiry was long overdue, as it had always had concerns the 08 Place could become a white elephant.
The Whitechapel venue operates as the city’s main tourist information centre, and opened in August, 2005.
The ground floor of the complex is occupied by council staff and provides information, event tickets and souvenirs to visitors while the top floor office space is leased out by Chas Cole’s firm CMP, which runs the Summer Pops.
It has been controversial from the start after the £1.4m Neighbourhood Renewal Fund – cash intended to help regenerate the city’s poorest areas – was used to help pay for the £2.2m fit-out and furnishing of the building.
When concerns were raised in February, 2005, then council leader Mike Storey insisted: “This will not be a cost on the council tax payer.”
Months later, a council report revealed the 08 Place would notch up a deficit of £161,000 a year, a total of more than £800,000 between then and 2010.
In August, 2006, council leader Warren Bradley asked the police to investigate claims of financial irregularities in the creation of the 08 Place.
Rumours around financial dealings to do with the project had circulated in the town hall for months.
A website, the Liverpool Evil Cabal, fuelled speculation by levelling a number of unsubstantiated accusations at senior council officials over business dealings.
