Council defends spending £50k to secure Spice Girls show
CITY leaders in Sunderland have defended a £50,000 payout to help secure the upcoming Spice Girls gig at the Stadium of Light.
And later this week councillors could agree to stump up an extra £500,000 to help boost the city’s events programme further.
But although at the same time families are facing a hike in their council tax bills worth almost 4%, council chiefs have insisted the potential return makes the investment worth it.
According to the council’s executive director of corporate services Jon Ritchie, the Spice Girls concert, scheduled for June, could be worth up to £4m.
It is hoped that instead of being a one-off, a good night could help bring more big acts and major events the city.
The Spice Girls are set to be the first concert at the Stadium of Light since 2016.
A run between 2009-16 saw the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Oasis and Beyonce visit Wearside.
However, the council has faced criticism for shelling out the money to attract the Spice Girls when other councils, such as Cardiff and Bristol, didn’t, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the council’s opposition Liberal Democrat group.
Councillors are due to vote today on the local authority’s budget for 2019/20. As well as “an extra £500,000 towards the city’s events programme”, spending plans include a council tax rise of 3%, £300,000 towards a “deep clean” of the city centre and £41m for a new civic centre at the Vaux site.