Towns should join the culture club
Last week, I joined a group of Labour MPs representing towns across the UK to write an open letter to Culture Minister, Jeremy Wright, urging him to establish a new UK town of culture award to run alongside the UK city of culture.
Building on the success of the European capital of culture – Glasgow was the first UK winner in 1990 – UK city of culture was established in 2009 with Derry becoming the first winner in 2013.
A new city is chosen every four years, but it is not just a title that is on offer, there is a wealth of new opportunities for the winning city.
Hull, the 2017 winner, has attracted over £220 million in investment, created 800 new jobs, opened 131 new businesses and attracted millions of tourists.
Towns are not excluded from applying but, despite the UK having an abundance of towns brimming with creativity and talent - I see examples regularly across Rutherglen and Hamilton West - Paisley is the only town ever to make the short list, losing out to Coventry in the 2021 bid.
Paisley should be proud of their fantastic bid, but the contest itself is fundamentally unfair.
Most small towns simply do not have access to the same level of resources as big cities to pull together a bid. This means that large parts of the country with rich cultural heritage are effectively disqualified.
If we are to unlock that potential, we need to create the opportunity for towns to take part in an annual town of culture award instead of competing with big cities once every four years. The idea is just one of several currently being considered by Labour Towns, a group of Labour MPs, MSPs, councillors and party members who live in and represent towns and villages across the UK and who want to see a fairer deal for our town centres.
There is a growing divide between our cities and towns, made worse by Tory austerity, and the idea that we can simply pour investment into large city centres and the benefits will spread out into the surrounding towns is the same flawed logic as trickle-down economics.
If we are to help our towns to not only survive, but thrive, we need a co-ordinated effort and radical new ideas at every level from the local community right up to national government.
Instead of allowing public services such as libraries and police stations and commercial services such banks to close or be pushed out to larger towns and cities, we need to protect
Most small towns simply do not have access to the same level of resources as big cities