H

CABINET – 13 SEPTEMBER 2013

UK CITY OF CULTURE 2017

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

PART A

Purpose of Report

1 The purpose of this report is to update the Cabinet on the proposal by City Council to become the UK City of Culture 2017 (UKCoC) and to recommend how the County Council can best support the bid and the City of Culture programme.

Recommendations

2 It is recommended:

a) That the current position with regard to Leicester City Council’s UKCoC bid be noted;

b) That the approach outlined in paragraphs 20-35 of the report be supported, given the benefits for the County Council and City Council of working together on the cultural programme;

c) That the likely economic impact of the City of Culture programme for the city and county be noted;

d) That a contribution from the County Council be offered to underwrite a proportion of up to £2 million of additional investment to support a successful bid and specifically to support the complementary cultural activity in the county, thereby to maximise economic and other benefits for Leicestershire.

Reasons for Recommendations

3 To support Leicester City Council’s bid to become the UK City of Culture 2017; ensuring that opportunities for collaborative work with the City Council are maximised and to give the bid, which will reflect the history and attraction of the county, the best chance of success.

Timetable for Decisions (including Scrutiny)

4 The initial bid was assessed by Government and the bid from Leicester City Council was shortlisted along with three other cities. Final bids will need to be submitted by 30 September 2013. An announcement on which city has been successful is expected to be made in November 2013.

Policy Framework and Previous Decisions

5 An Executive report on the UKCoC 2017 was presented to Leicester City Council’s Scrutiny Commission on 17 April 2013 and the report was noted.

6 On the 12 June 2013, the Cabinet agreed the approach for collaboration and support from the County Council.

Resources Implications

7 The costs associated with the bid development phase are in the region of £100k. Following discussions between the Leader of the County Council and the City Mayor, the County Council made a contribution towards this of £20k.

8 The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) suggests that around £10 million of public funding over and above an authority’s baseline spend on culture would be needed to deliver a UKCoC programme. The costs for the programme are currently being finalised. Leicester City Council and its partners will be expected to commit, in principle, to underwrite the necessary funding before formally submitting the full bid.

9 A sum of up to £2 million has been proposed from the County Council to support the underwriting of additional activity to support and strengthen the bid, following a meeting between the Leader of the County Council and the City Mayor. This sum would be allocated from this year’s underspend and used to support the County programme as outlined in paragraphs 20-26. There is considerable evidence that designation as part of the UKCoC programme will deliver significant economic benefits, including in relation to employment, business growth, tourism and skills development.

10 The Director of Corporate Resources and the County Solicitor have been consulted on the contents of this report.

Circulation under the Local Issues Alert Procedure

None.

Officer to Contact

Heather Broughton, Assistant Director (Communities and Wellbeing), Adults and Communities Department

Telephone: 0116 305 6781 Email: [email protected]

Tom Purnell, Head of Policy and Communities, Chief Executive’s Department

Telephone: 0116 305 7019 Email: [email protected] PART B

Background

11 The DCMS has launched a competition to select UKCoC 2017. The City of Culture programme was developed by the UK Government to build on the success of as the European Capital of Culture (ECoC). On 28 February 2013, Leicester City Council, through a bidding consortium chaired by the City Mayor, declared its intention to bid and submitted an expression of interest to DCMS.

12 An initial bid was developed by Leicester City Council’s UKCoC Consortium and submitted by 30 April 2013. The County Council was consulted on the draft proposal and is represented on the Bid Consortium and on the Programme Development Subgroup.

13 Leicester City Council was notified that their bid at the first stage had been successful, along with three other cities - , Hull and Bay - and now all shortlisted locations are working on the final bid for submission by 30 September 2013, with an announcement to be made in November 2013.

14 The overall aim of the UKCoC programme is to encourage the use of culture and creativity as a catalyst for change, to promote the development of new partnerships and to encourage ambition, innovation and inspiration in cultural and creative activity. Cities that bid for the title need to spell out their own vision and how they will use it in making a step change in their area and creating a lasting legacy.

15 The UKCoC competition does not include a financial prize or award, but it is expected that the title will generate commercial benefits and economic impacts for the winning city and wider county. This is based on the Liverpool 08 ECoC experience, and although this will not be a direct comparator as this had a higher profile than City of Culture, there will undoubtedly be economic benefits for tourism, local businesses and industry.

16 Londonderry-, the current UKCoC, has an extensive programme for 2013 of big ‘cultural brands’ including the , London Symphony Orchestra, Royal National Ballet, Lumiere Festival and Hofesh Shechter. The national and international flavour of the Londonderry-Derry programme is an indicator of the events which could be hosted in Leicester and Leicestershire in 2017.

17 Of the cities who were shortlisted for UKCoC 2013, the unsuccessful cities indicated that the bidding process helped to articulate a clear statement of their cultural identity which in turn became a compelling argument to present to local stakeholders. The experience of bidding formed and strengthened partnerships and collaborations.

Proposal

18 Leicester City Council’s bid is being developed by a Bid Consortium and a bid writing team appointed to assist.

19 Whilst there is no blueprint for the UKCoC, there are three key factors the successful city must guarantee:

• The quality of the cultural programme; • Genuine and demonstrable support from the cultural providers/sector, local partners and the wider business and residential communities; • A fully endorsed commitment from the local authority to ensure that the title of UKCoC is embedded as part of a longer term strategy to shape and define the city as a place to work, live, invest and visit.

Benefits for Leicestershire

20 It is proposed for the main towns and major attractions in the county to link into Leicester City’s programme during the year, hosting complementary events and festivals through its network of libraries, museums, leisure and community facilities. The internationally important profile of the Richard lll and Bosworth Battlefield ‘offer’ is one of the most obvious examples of such linkages, and there are other important themes such as transport (canals, trains and aviation), castles and historic houses, fashion design and manufacture (heritage and innovation), creative industries and food. The theme of illumination is central to the initial bid, and offers a platform to build on the Transform Project (http://website/transform/transform_about.htm ) using the Snibston Colliery buildings and the Leicestershire landscape.

21 The project is an opportunity for the county to celebrate and commemorate Leicestershire individuals who have made a significant contribution to our lives today (for example Frank Whittle, George Stephenson, Robert Bakewell, Thomas Cook, Augusta Ada King) and to build on the existing infrastructure of community programmes such as Centre Screen and Centre Stage. There are many local and often unique events such as bottle kicking at Hallaton, Strawberry Fields Festival at Heather, Glastonbudget Music Festival at Wymeswold and Melton Food Festival, for example, in addition to town and community arts festivals, which would provide a complementary calendar of culture in the county. Creative Leicestershire is a city/ county showcase representing the diverse range of creative industries in the county and accessing 3,000 creative businesses and sole traders to encourage local talent, graduate training and a support framework for young people.

22 A workshop for county stakeholders was held in July with attendance from district and borough councils, the Leicestershire Arts Development Officers Forum, Mantle Arts, Leicester Shire Promotions and County Council officers, among others. The workshop identified a number of opportunities for the county built around the rural touring networks and the county landscape, among other ideas. These ideas have been fed back to the bid writing team for integration into the bid.

23 The project will also enable the County Council, and its partners, to optimise the cultural offer and to help build sustainable outcomes; considering the county’s cultural assets and priorities will assist in the development of a clear sense of identity and place, reflecting the changing demographics of the city and county.

24 Culture has the capacity to be cross cutting and deliver benefits in a range of different areas as the process can help contribute to learning, health and wellbeing, supporting families and the economic agenda. Opportunities to encourage local talent, graduate training and to develop a support framework for young people could be a by-product of the programme.

25 It is proposed that the financial support from the County Council will be focused on contributing to the delivery of the programme in the county, and covering marketing, any overheads and the remainder (70% approximately) ring fenced to programme and product delivery.

Economic impact

26 There is considerable evidence that a designation like Capital or City of Culture brings substantial economic benefits to the area. Whilst Leicester and Leicestershire are not directly comparable with previous ECoC, the experience is helpful in understanding the likelihood and possible scale of economic benefits. It also needs bearing in mind that designation as an ECoC brings with it public investment from Europe substantially above the scale of investment that the UK Government is making in a designated UKCoC. Paragraphs 31 to 35 below summarise the evidence from previous ECoCs and also briefly describe the economic impacts expected from this year’s Londonderry-Derry UKCoC programme.

27 Leicester’s draft bid sets out initial estimates of economic benefits. These include:

• 10% growth in visitor expenditure 2013-17 with continued upward growth beyond then; • hotel occupancy (up from 62% to 75% by 2017 and sustained at 70% from 2018); • employment in the ‘arts, entertainment, recreation and other’ sector doubling from 7,000 now to 14,000 in 2020; • increasing the proportion of culture event audiences in Leicester from outside the LE postcode area from 12% to 20% by 2019; • 10% increase in tourism envisaged between 2016 and 2017.

28 A deeper and more comprehensive assessment of economic impacts will be included in the final bid, including a greater focus on county-wide impacts. This is expected to include forecasts of growth in the creative industries sector, improved rates of graduate attraction and retention, and a positive overall impact on total employment. These positive outcomes will be underpinned by activity which will give city and county businesses enhanced opportunities to be involved in the UKCoC programme. The UKCoC designation will also be used to market and promote the areas (and especially the county’s) tourism, food and retail offers; and the programme will include a strong emphasis on growing the fashion and food sectors. In addition, a sophisticated evaluation model is being developed to track and measure economic impacts.

29 It is difficult to quantify more precisely the scale of the likely economic impact of a Leicester City of Culture designation at the current time for a number of reasons. The impact will be influenced by the programme of activity which is put in place across the city and the county; this is still being developed. The evidence of other ECoCs provides a strong degree of confidence that there will be economic benefits but the investment in those designations, and therefore the returns, were at a different level to those planned for Leicester. Finally, Leicester is bidding to be just the second UKCoC with the first, in Londonderry-Derry, underway at the current time. There is inevitably very limited evidence of the economic impacts of UKCoCs. The sections below, and Appendix A, summarise evidence from other cities considered to be most relevant to the Leicester bid.

30 In terms of previous ECoCs, the most recent UK example is Liverpool in 2008. The substantial economic benefits recorded by Liverpool are summarised in Appendix A, including securing a £6 return for each £1 of investment and generating £9.7million additional visits in 2008.

31 Also summarised in Appendix A are economic benefits experienced by three former ECoCs which are considered to be good comparators with Leicester, particularly in terms of their size; that is Linz in Austria, Turku in Finland and Guimaraes in Portugal.

32 The first UKCoC, Londonderry-Derry, is part way through its year and it is too early to evaluate adequately the economic results, but it has been forecasting substantial economic benefits, including an additional 1,300 jobs by 2013 and 2,800 by 2020, with 900 and 2,000 respectively in the direct creative industries and tourist sectors. Appendix A provides further details of forecast benefits in Londonderry-Derry.

33 The evidence above does give confidence that economic benefits will be realised even if it is difficult to quantify these at the current time. There are, however, a number of opportunities which the County Council can exploit and steps it can take to ensure and maximise economic benefit for the county. These include:

• The County Council investing in the Leicester bid to ensure a substantial programme of cultural activity takes place in the county, thereby strengthening the bid. The County Council is working closely with the bid team to ensure the programme is designed to maximise economic benefits in the county both in terms of the direct programming of activity and the ability of the county to benefit from city-based activity; • The emerging programme including a focus on sectors in which the county has strengths, in particular food (including food production and tourism) and fashion; • Those visiting Leicester during UKCoC also visiting county attractions and staying in county hotels. On the latter point, there will be a significant under provision of hotel space in the city in 2017, providing a substantial opportunity for hotels and other accommodation providers in the county; • Influencing key delivery partners and other agencies so that their activity reinforces the economic benefits of UKCoC in the county. A good example would be to align the tourism support services provided by Leicester Shire Promotions to maximising the tourism benefits in the county of Leicester being awarded UKCoC status.

34 Evaluations of ECoC designations have also demonstrated the value of other less tangible benefits. These include substantial improvements to the perception, profile, identity, reputation and image of the cities, with residents, visitors and businesses all agreeing that designation had improved these aspects. The social benefits of cultural events have also been assessed and have highlighted evidence of greater community support, wellbeing, belonging and expression, as well as civic pride and personal empowerment. Evidence also indicates other benefits which more closely align to the economy including the transformation of spaces and the facilitation of entrepreneurship. The Leicester bid recognises the potential of realising social benefits with particular focus currently being placed on young people, community cohesion and health and wellbeing.

Consultations

35 It is proposed that the County Council continues to work with Leicester City Council on consultation with the key agencies and communities who will influence and facilitate the more detailed bid and the programme delivery, as evidence of wider engagement in the bid development process will be required.

36 A workshop focusing on the County was held in August, involving the National Forest, Loughborough University School of Art and Design, district councils, independent museums, major attractions and Leicester Shire Promotions.

Background Papers

• Executive Report to Leicester City Council Scrutiny Commission on Economic Development, Culture and Tourism and Heritage, Leisure and Sport: 17 April 2013 http://www.cabinet.leicester.gov.uk/documents/g5187/Public%20reports%20pack%2 0Wednesday%2017-Apr- 2013%2017.30%20Economic%20Development%20Culture%20and%20Tourism%20 Scrutin.pdf?T=10 – pages 13-48 • Report to Cabinet: 12 June 2013 – UK City of Culture: Leicester City Council http://politics.leics.gov.uk/Published/C00000135/M00003632/AI00034759/$8ukcityofc ulture2017leicestercitycouncil.docA.ps.pdf • Ex-post Evaluation of 2009 European Capitals of Culture. Final Report for the European Commission. Ecotec. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/evalreports/culture/2010/cocreport_en.pdf • Ex-post Evaluation of 2011 European Capitals of Culture. Final Report for the European Commission. Ecorys. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/evalreports/culture/2012/ecocreport_en.pdf • Londonderry-Derry UKCoC Bid Document. Derry City Council www.nitb.com/FileHandler.ashx?id=2112

List of Appendices

Appendix A - Evidence of Economic Impacts from European Cities of Culture

Relevant Impact Assessments

Equal Opportunities Implications

37 An Equality Impact Assessment will be carried out alongside the development of the final part of the bid. Partnership Working and associated issues

38 There is a strong cultural partnership already in place for cultural agencies in Leicester and Leicestershire representing the districts and boroughs, the County and City Councils and Leicester Shire Promotions Ltd. The Arts Partnership between Leicester City and Leicestershire County Councils brings together partners across the arts and creative sectors and will have an important role in the development of the programme for 2017.

Risk Assessment

39 A risk assessment is a requirement of the initial bid application process and will be developed further at the next stage. APPENDIX A

Evidence of Economic Impacts from European Cities of Culture

Liverpool 2008

• Secured an economic impact in 2008 of £754m against a programme spend of £130m, a ratio of approximately £6 for every £1 invested; • Generated 9.7m additional visits in 2008 (an increase of 34%); • Welcomed 2.6m international visitors (97% of them visiting the city for the first time); • benefited from 1.14m additional hotel nights in Liverpool plus 3m in the North West region; • Through the establishment of new local cultural networks has attracted multi-million pound national grants; • Experienced from 2004 an 8% growth in creative industry enterprises, employing 11,000 people; • Secured national and international media coverage to the value of £200m, with coverage of Liverpool as a Culture City doubled; • Experienced continued growth in retail footfall despite the recession in 2008; • Enjoyed a hotel occupancy rate of 80% - the highest in the UK; • Saw a 50% rise in visitor figures to Merseyside’s 7 top attractions; and • Moved from 16th to 6th in the UK for numbers of international visitors and then continued to improve post 2008 and is now 5 th ;

Linz, Austria 2009

• Significant economic benefits in terms of higher turnover in key sectors, new investment and increased tourist visits; • 2,895,000 visitors in 2009 compared with 600,000 in the period 2006-2008; • 10% increase in overnight stays in 2009 compared with 2008, at a time when other Austrian cities were experiencing falls as a result of the economic crisis; • Additional regional GDP in Upper Austria between 2005 and 2010 of €426m with 4,625 jobs created or safeguarded, with the bulk of this impact stemming from physical infrastructure projects; • €67m investment in new hotels and €6.5m on hotel improvements and extensions in Upper Austria leading to additional GDP of between €64m and €78m and the creation and securing of between 664 to 806; • Substantial anecdotal evidence that ECoC status had a major impact on visitor experiences and external perceptions of the city.

Turku, Finland 2011

• Employment in South West Finland increased by 3,300 person-years and total revenue impact was €260m (of which 2,500 person-years and €200m respectively was attributed to tourism); • 17% increase in tourism; • 7% increase in overnight stays in the region during 2011 compared with 4% increase across Finland during same period; • 68 international conferences held, attracting twice as many visitors as in 2010, generating tourism revenue of €14.1m.

Guimaraes, Portugal 2012

There has been no formal EU Evaluation to date, but according to the local authorities involved there was a:

• doubling of tourist numbers between 2011 and 2012; • rise in the hotel occupancy rate from 52.6% in 2011 to 67.2% in 2012.

Derry/Londonderry 2013

• An additional 1,300 jobs by 2013 and 2,800 by 2020, with 900 and 2,000 respectively in the direct creative industries and tourist sectors; • By 2020 a doubling in overnight visitor numbers compared to 2010 levels; • £98 million additional wages and profits (GVA) by 2020; • An additional 2,300 residents employed, including almost 1,000 from the bottom half of most deprived wards; • 290,000 additional out-of-state tourist nights per year by 2020.