Backing for city ‘year of culture’ plan

LEEDS SHOULD bounce back from disappointment over its stalled bid to be 2023 European Capital of Culture by championing a ‘Yorkshire Year of Culture’ instead, it has been suggested.

Councillor Neil Buckley was speaking as he tabled a motion at a Leeds Civic Hall meeting suggesting the city – and the wider county – could host its own yearlong event or team up with its former UK bid rivals. In a rare moment of political accord, Coun Buckley’s motion was seconded by leader of council leader Judith Blake, and supported across the party divide.

“The decision has been made and it’s unlikely to be changed,” Coun Buckley said. “We can either go and sit in the corner and sulk, or we can say ‘come on, let’s do this, Europe or no Europe’.”

He said Leeds could ensure all the hard work that was put into preparing the Leeds2023 bid – before it was virtually scuppered by European Commission bureaucrats because of Brexit – was not wasted. “Leeds must get hold of this and sell the Year of Culture and be ultra positive about it,” he said. “Could it be [with] the city region and the Yorkshire brand? Yes, why not?”