Star Comment - Town of Culture contest is a great opportunity for the West Midlands. But let's ensure it's a clean fight
Wouldn’t it be great to have the UK’s Town of Culture here in the West Midlands.
This is a huge opportunity to place the spotlight on our wonderful region, to boost its economy and to receive the added bonus of a £3 million prize pot.
Across our wider region we have many contenders – from the deep cultural identity of our Black Country towns to the splendour and rich communities of our market towns in Shropshire and Staffordshire.
We hope many towns will put themselves forward. As a newspaper we will back every bid.
One lesson from the past should, however, act as a warning to towns that will be putting themselves forward for the title.
Back in 2000 it was widely accepted that either Swindon or Reading would be given the title of city status. The M4 neighbours had put forward strong bids. The consensus was that it was a done deal that one of them would end up a winner.
Then it got dirty. A war of words raged between leaders in the towns, both trying to disparage the other. It made for great headlines, but didn’t go down well with the judges.
The result? The fantastic Black Country town of Wolverhampton rode up on the rails and pipped both at the post. It, along with Brighton and Inverness, become new proud Millennium cities.
So while we want our towns to put themselves up, let’s make it a clean fight. The rewards for being named town of culture are huge, through big arts, music and performance events. It will bring local investment, boost tourism and create a lasting sense of pride.
We should all get behind the competition. We know our region is Britain’s best – now let’s let the rest of the country find that out too.
