Mayor calls for Coventry City of Culture Trust investigation

The mayor of the West Midlands has called for an investigation into the Coventry City of Culture Trust after it went into administration on Tuesday.

The appointment of administrators had resulted in the loss of the trust's three-year legacy project and 50 jobs.

MPs Zarah Sultana, Marcus Jones and Matt Western have all demanded answers from the trust.

But Mayor Andy Street told BBC CWR there should be a "proper investigation" led by the city council.

Coventry City Council has not responded to questions of whether it supported an investigation into the trust.

"It's incredibly disappointing news," Mr Street said, adding that people had relied on the trust and had lost their jobs.

"This is public money and we need to know how we got to this position."

Mr Street suggested an investigation should be led by the city council first, instead of a parliamentary review, to understand how the trust had fallen into financial difficulty.

"We can't just lose the legacy because the trust has gone," he said.

Coventry was named the UK City of Culture in 2021, attracting millions of pounds in investment to the city, but the body responsible confirmed it had appointed administrators after weeks of financial insecurity.

The administrators, from Armstrong Watson, confirmed all staff roles, including 29 permanent staff and 21 casual workers, had been made redundant.

The trust said it regretted the administration's impact on staff and partners, with the Local Democracy Reporting Service reporting that the The Reel Store, a permanent digital art gallery, could also close in light of the lack of funding.

The City of Culture Trust itself has not publicly spoken about the cause of financial difficulties, however the Charity Commission has confirmed it is examining the finances.

Ms Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, said the news of administration was a "bitterly disappointing" conclusion for staff and partner organisations.

"Winning City of Culture status was a great moment for Coventry, bringing pride and investment to the city," she said.

"The trust has said that work is ongoing to secure legacy funding and I know cultural organisations across the city will be hoping this is successful."

She added that despite the pandemic having impacted the trust's plans, answers were needed to understand what should have been avoided and conducted differently.

The demand for answers was echoed by Mr Jones, Conservative MP for Nuneaton, who called the news "extremely concerning".

Mr Western, Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington, said he was "shocked and disappointed" to learn of the trust going into administration, adding that he would ask urgent questions to understand what had happened.

Michael Mogan, fundraising director for the trust until 2019, said a parliamentary review should be held to establish what had gone wrong at the trust and to work out whether its financials issues had been monitored.

An emergency meeting to discuss the trust will be held by the council's Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board on 9 March.

It has not yet been confirmed if any representatives of the trust will attend the meeting.

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