Cracks have started to appear in Liverpool’s ambitious plans for its year as European capital of culture 2008. Barry McCarthy assesses the damage

When Liverpool was named European capital of culture 2008 it made a pledge to the entire city. It promised to honour the spirit of its diverse population and from its ‘unconventional, pioneering, unruly and unpredictable’ energies create a city buzzing with creative life and a bold economic confidence.

Its bidding document asserts: ‘By 2008 and for a new generation [Liverpool] will have become a better city to live in, to work in, to visit, to invest in.’

But with just five months to go before the city is officially anointed doubts have begun to emerge about what it will achieve and how much those glorified as the city’s greatest asset will really benefit.

Last month, when Joe Anderson, leader of the Labour group, resigned from the board of Liverpool Culture Company (LCC) which is organising the programme of cultural events, he refused to go quietly. Unlike Lee Forde, former LCC head of events and erstwhile artistic director Robyn Archer, who both left citing personal reasons, Mr Anderson went to the local press, complaining loudly that the capital of culture was elitist and ignored the community.

It was an accusation that went to the heart of what the capital of culture is all about.

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