• Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough selected
• Winner will be announced by the Culture Secretary in May

Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough are today unveiled as the four areas shortlisted to be UK City of Culture 2025.

The four locations were approved by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries based on independent advice made to the government by a panel of experts led by Sir Phil Redmond.

The finalists were whittled down from a record twenty initial bids to eight outstanding longlist applications which also included Cornwall, Derby, Stirling and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.

All bids were asked to explain how they would use culture to grow and strengthen their local area, as well as how they would use culture to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vast benefits of winning the prestigious title include attracting millions of pounds in additional investment to help boost regeneration, a year in the cultural spotlight with hundreds of events encouraging long-lasting participation in the arts, and growth for local tourism.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

The UK City of Culture competition shows the important role that culture can play in levelling up our towns, cities and rural communities – bringing investment, great events, thousands of tourists, and opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds.

We have seen a huge positive impact in this year’s host city, Coventry, with millions of pounds in investment and thousands of visitors.

This has been a record year for bids, which is great to see. Congratulations to the four shortlisted places – I wish them all the best of luck.

Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 has seen more than £172 million invested in funding music concerts, public art displays, the UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery, a new children’s play area in the centre of the city, the new Telegraph Hotel and improvements to public transport.

More than a third of event tickets (43 per cent) issued to Coventry residents as part of the City of Culture went to financially stretched people or those facing adversity and a third of the cultural programme was co-created with local communities. A further £500 million has been ploughed into the city’s regeneration since it was confirmed as the UK City of Culture.

More than £150 million of public and private sector investment was invested into 2013 winner Derry-Londonderry while the 2017 winner Hull saw a 10 percent increase in visitor numbers during its tenure.

Sir Phil Redmond, Chair of the City of Culture Expert Advisory Panel, said:

Culture can act as a catalyst for community engagement, civic cohesion and a driver for economic and social change as previously seen not just in Derry-Londonderry (2013), Hull (2017) and Coventry (2021), but all those other places who went on a journey to develop their own cultural strategy. Simply taking part has proved a catalyst in itself. We have had a great longlist to select from, which made the shortlisting difficult, but I am now looking forward to visiting each of the shortlisted places with the panel to witness culture’s catalytic effect in action.

Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive, Coventry City of Culture Trust, said:

This is such an exciting moment for the shortlisted cities and we wish them all the best for the next stage. Holding the title in Coventry has been a privilege and has made a considerable impact already on the City and its citizens. We can’t wait to see what comes next for those who’ve used the bidding process to truly consider the value of culture – all will have inspired the next generation of artists, organisations, funders and supporters. The expert advisory panel, chaired by Sir Phil Redmond, will now visit the four shortlisted places before making their final recommendation in May. The winner will be announced this year in Coventry.

The competition, delivered by DCMS in collaboration with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, brings culture into the heart of communities and gives people an opportunity to get involved in everything the arts have to offer.

The eight longlisted bidders received, for the first time, a £40,000 grant to strengthen their applications which were scrutinised by the expert advisory panel against published criteria.

The unsuccessful areas will each receive detailed feedback on their bids. Ministers and officials will also engage with them on how best they can maintain momentum and realise their ambitions in the future.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• The expert advisory panel includes representatives from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and brings together a wide range of experience.
• To learn more about each shortlisted bid visit the cities’ websites: Bradford, County Durham, Southampton, Wrexham.
• Read more information on Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.
• For the first time this year groups of towns were able to join together and apply for the title to be awarded to their local area – widening the scope of which areas of the country could benefit.

Full list of bids:

• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
• The City of Bangor and Northwest Wales
• The Borderlands region, comprising Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Carlisle City
• Bradford
• Conwy County
• Cornwall
• Derby
• County Durham
• Lancashire
• Medway
• City of Newport
• Powys
• Southampton
• Stirling
• The Tay Cities region
• Torbay and Exeter
• Wakefield District
• City of Wolverhampton
• Wrexham County Borough
• Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk

Not only do we believe that tackling climate change is right for the planet, green investments represent a huge opportunity for the UK’s financial services sector. And getting this right is a key part of the Chancellor’s vision to make the UK the global hub of choice for green finance.

As ministers representing different departments, we are working together to support the green agenda. Last October, the UK was the first country in the world to require trustees of occupational pension schemes to identify, manage, and report on the climate-related risks and opportunities within their portfolios.

By October this year, 81% of occupational pension scheme assets will be assessed and the disclosures will be published in the months that follow. And because we know that forests and land use are a significant source of carbon emissions, any action on climate change will need to take deforestation into account. These measures will deliver a new level of accountability, with pension savers able to see the impact of their investments and better understand how risks are being considered and mitigated.

During our COP26 Presidency, we are putting forests front and centre of our global response to climate change. Ending deforestation would make the single largest contribution to greenhouse gases reduction targets for 2030, taking 3.5 gigatons of carbon out of the system every single year. That’s 10% of the emissions reductions we need during this decade.

At COP26, we were delighted that 141 countries representing 90% of the world’s forests committed to ending forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The declaration was bolstered by unprecedented public, private, and philanthropic investment, amounting to around $20 billion. The world’s biggest buyers of forest-risk commodities and all the main multilateral development banks committed to align with our climate goals and the recovery of nature – which, in turn, will help to protect millions of livelihoods and natural habitats around the world.

We were pleased that several significant UK-based pension funds committed to transitioning their portfolios away from activities that are driving deforestation. And with the new requirements from October 2021 on climate-related financial disclosure, shareholders, members, and constituents can now see and understand the progress that is being made.

It is clear that the British people care passionately about making sure their savings are part of the solutions, and they deserve to know whether pension fund managers are using their hard-earned money in a way that jeopardises or prioritises the future for which they are saving. In the coming weeks we will be reaching out to UK pension funds, to help them further understand deforestation issues and how to manage this risk as effectively as possible.

The UK Presidency of COP26 continues until we hand the baton to Egypt towards the end of this year; our priority is to ensure we achieve the outcomes secured in Glasgow last November and keep leading by example.

Our pensions can play a crucial role in driving forward our pledge to protect precious natural habitats and reduce emissions in the years to come.

The Contingent Liability Central Capability (CLCC) is an analytical and advisory unit within UK Government Investments (UKGI).

The CLCC has been established to strengthen contingent liability expertise across government by improving the overall ability to manage the government’s portfolio of risk from contingent liabilities.

This complements the existing support the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) provides to government departments on financial risks, including contingent liabilities.

What is a contingent liability?

A contingent liability represents a government commitment to possible future expenditure if specific adverse events occur.

Some contingent liabilities are loan guarantees where government agrees to pay the debts of a third party if they default. An example is the Export Development Guarantee scheme run by UK Export Finance.

Some other contingent liabilities include indemnities (protection similar to insurance) where government agrees to cover costs such as clinical negligence claims against NHS GPs.

The role of the CLCC

The CLCC team has a diverse skillset brought in by actuaries seconded from GAD, credit risk experts, policy professionals and analysts.

The team’s main areas of focus are to:

1. provide departments with expert and timely analysis of proposed and existing contingent liabilities
2. build a database to collate information, review, and report on the government’s overall portfolio of contingent liabilities
3. provide guidance and promote best practice across government

The team has also set up a network of contingent liability practitioners across Whitehall. The Contingent Liability Advisory Network provides a regular forum for discussing common issues.

Advice and support on contingent liabilities

Departments are encouraged to come to the CLCC with all issues related to new contingent liabilities, with early engagement particularly helpful for the team.

The CLCC will either be able to provide advice directly or they will signpost you to GAD when our support is required.

The CLCC works very closely with GAD, and is designed to complement, rather than replace, GAD’s existing support to departments.

Next steps

In the next few months, the CLCC will:

• conduct projects with selected departments to review their existing stock of contingent liabilities
• continue to provide advice and support on new contingent liabilities
• build on its network to share case studies and best practice

Get in touch

If you would like to discuss any contingent liability issues or would be interested in participating in the Contingent Liability Advisory Network, email: CLCC@ukgi.org.uk. You can also contact GAD at: enquiries@gad.gov.uk.

National Highways has listened to the opinions of people and taken action by refining designs for the £1bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project.

The project will lead to significant improvements to the A66 between M6 junction 40 and A1 at Scotch Corner by dualling the remaining single carriageway sections of the route and upgrading key junctions.

The road runs east to west across northern England, providing access to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District National Park, as well as carrying high levels of freight. However, the route is not up to modern standards, meaning drivers face congestion, delays at key junctions and substandard access to jobs and leisure locations.

Today, National Highways publishes its Statutory Consultation Summary Report alongside a Winter 2022 Project Update setting out updated plans for the vital project.

Last autumn National Highways spent six weeks talking to communities, drivers and businesses who use the vital route about the proposal. More than 1,200 people and organisations gave their thoughts, while over 1,500 attended a series of public information events.

The responses are helping to shape the final design and inform National Highways’ application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) in May 2022 which, if successful, will pave the way for the scheme to go ahead.

Lee Hillyard, National Highways’ A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project director, said:

We’re delighted so many people have taken such a keen interest in our proposals and I’d like to thank everyone for their responses. Today we’ve published our statutory consultation summary report and Spring 2022 project update, which is the perfect opportunity to provide the latest information and show how we are acting on the feedback we’ve received.

While some changes are minor tweaks to the design shared in autumn 2021, others are more substantial. In those areas, National Highways has held targeted non-statutory consultations with local communities, landowners and stakeholders, whose feedback is currently being collected and will be incorporated into our DCO submission.

The provision of walking, cycling and horse riding (WCH) routes has been a major talking point during the route’s development and, after listening to feedback, additional WCH routes are now being proposed in some areas.

Lee Hillyard added:

We have listened to the local communities and stakeholders on the issue of WCH, which was one of the most requested topics during consultation. We’ve maintained and relocated any severed WCH routes which cross the new road, and now we’re proposing extra routes. Our new routes will deliver wider connectivity.

The project team have also completed surveys to gain an intricate understanding of the local area including the environment, ecology and heritage, while also exploring ways to mitigate potential impacts like noise, drainage and visual aesthetics. This has created opportunities in various locations to improve environmental and land impacts.

Meanwhile, on the section between Appleby and Brough, we are considering an alternative to the proposed replacement of the travelling community’s Brough Hill Fair site. In the autumn 2021 statutory consultation, a site to the east of Warcop was earmarked on land belonging to the Ministry of Defence – known as the “bivvy” site. An alternative location, approximately 1.6 miles east from the current site, is now also being considered in response to feedback from the Statutory Consultation.

National Highways is keen to hear views on the sites with regards to their suitability for the annual event. As these are potential changes to the design presented in the autumn, a supplementary consultation is being carried out to provide the chance to gather feedback on this specific issue.

To read the consultation summary report and a project, update visit the our A66 A66 Northern Trans-Pennine web pages. You can email us at A66NTP@highwaysengland.co.uk or call 0333 090 1192. Phone lines are open between Monday and Friday, 9am to 5pm, or you can leave a message and the team will return your call.

You can follow the Twitter account @A66NTP and the Facebook page A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project.

Members of the public should contact the National Highways customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Journalists should contact the National Highways press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.