New company to drive bid for City of Culture 2029 – “supported by, but independent of the council”

A charitable company looks set to be established to drive forward Wrexham’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2029.

The county borough narrowly missed out to Bradford last year in the competition for the 2025 title.

UK City of Culture is a competition run by the UK Government’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport every four years.

The next round is expected to open in 2025 for applications for the 2029 title. ‌​‌‌​​​‌‍‌​‌​‌‌‌​‍‌​​​‌​‌‌‍‌​​​‌‌​‌‍‌​​‌‌‌‌​‍‌​​‌‌‌​​‍‌​​‌​‌​​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​​‌‌​‌​‍‌​​‌‌‌​​‍‌‌​​‌‌​‌‍‌‌​​‌‌​​

Members of Wrexham Council’s executive board will be asked tomorrow to support the creation of a charitable company, which will be limited by guarantee using a foundation model, to push the bid forward.

The organisation will initially be known as Wrexham Community and Culture Trust or Ymddiriedolaeth Cymunedol a Diwylliannol Wrecsam, before being given a more “public-facing name” early next year.

Cllr Hugh Jones, lead member for environment, said the decision had been taken to set up the company based on comments received in relation to the previous bid.

He said: “The feedback from the last bid was that the delivery body for City of Culture needed to be at arm’s length from the council. In fact, it needed to be a separate body from the council.

“We set up an interim trust and the calibre of people we’ve been able to attract has been really outstanding.

“These are people who have senior positions across Wales, who have a significant amount of knowledge in the field of culture, media, and sport. We’ve been very fortunate.

“We looked at a number of options and we asked what lessons we could learn from Coventry (previous title holder).

“As a result of that, Cwmpas (development agency) were appointed to give some professional advice on the way forward.

“They’ve come back with the recommendations to the executive board that a charitable company, limited by guarantee based on the foundation model, is the right way forward.”

Coventry, title holders in 2021, have been cited as an example where issues have arisen for the host city.

It came after the National Audit Office had to investigate the City of Culture Trust’s financial affairs.

It was said at one stage to be ‘at risk of not remaining a going concern’ and required a million-pound bail out loan from the council, before entering administration earlier this year.

Cllr Jones said: “One of the criticisms was that Coventry was too closely linked with the council.

“We also looked at other successful bids and looked at the delivery bodies that they have.

“We also have to look at the legislation changes on these things and the advice came back to us that this was the best way forward.”

The theme of Wrexham serving as a “Capital of Play” is one which featured heavily in Wrexham’s first bid.

Although Cllr Jones insisted the new body responsible for delivering the latest bid would be able to make its own decisions, he said it was an area which is likely to be included again.

He said: “We’ve got a huge cross section of talent on that board and it’s for them to decide what will be done differently, and not for me to specify to them.

“Play will play an important part because it was considered to be a successful part of the earlier bid.

“Exactly what form will take us down to the trust when it’s set up. One of the things that’s really important is that the bid is seen to be supported by, but independent of the council.

“It would be wholly inappropriate for me or anybody else in the council at this stage to say that this is what they need to do.”

Cllr Jones was asked how funding would be delivered for the bid, given the significant budget shortfall the council currently faces.

He said a decision had been made to set money aside in this year’s council budget, but it was also hoped the trust would be able to raise funding from other sources.