 LIVERPOOL businesses are not doing enough to make Capital of Culture a success, city council leader Warren Bradley warned last night. He urged the business community to help make the city ready for 2008 by putting their hands in their pockets. But many businesses said they were reluctant to contribute to Capital of Culture coffers because they had been “left out of the loop” and were already paying enough. Cllr Bradley said: “Everybody is going to benefit from Capital of Culture; businesses already have but many of them have not made a contribution. “Put simply, if you want to come to the party, bring a bottle. Businesses will be happy to display the Capital of Culture logo, but they each need to play their part in making it successful. “One example of how businesses could help is for each of them to put in £100 to pay for banners and flags, perhaps designed by local artists and students, to dress the city for Capital of Culture.” Cllr Bradley said many businesses could feel they were on the fringe of Capital of Culture. He said: “Businesses might not feel involved in the celebrations, but they can be and should be. I would like to see every organisation in Liverpool become more proactive. “There are 1,700 members of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. If they all got together to do something, the benefits would be huge, but so far they haven’t. “It would be great to see every shop, restaurant and business flying the flag for Capital of Culture. “There are six months left and we really need people to start thinking about what they can do. This isn’t about the city council dictating to businesses. If they got together to come up with a scheme, we would like to see how we could pay them back.” Former Wirral MP and MEP Andrew Pearce, a member of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce council, last night supported Cllr Bradley’s call. He said: “The Chamber is wrong to have taken no action so far, but businesses feel detached from 2008 because they are not being engaged by the Culture Company. “I suggested a year ago to the Chamber of Commerce that they needed to come up with some sort of scheme. “If you go around Liverpool, there is not much to tell you that, in six months’ time, this will be the European Capital of Culture.” Chamber vice-chairman Ed Oliver, manager of Clayton Square Shopping Centre, insisted the business community was doing its bit. He said: “We are not prepared to fill the Culture Company’s coffers with money, but businesses in the Chamber of Commerce will be making a contribution. “What that is, we don’t yet know. We have not had an opportunity to get together and decide how we will do it.” | 
News RSS Feed