LIVERPOOL HERITAGE FORUM CLOSES......BECAUSE THE CITY COUNCIL IGNORES IT.
IN LIVERPOOL WE HAVE A COUNCIL THAT DOES WHAT IT WANTS WITH WHO IT WANTS AND FAR TOO OFTEN THERE IS A "COSY" RELATIONSHIP WITH LIVERPOOL'S PROPERTY DEVELOPERS BEFORE THEY LISTEN TO ANYTHING ABOUT SAVING OUR HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT.
I DID TELL THEM SO. AN EXTRACT FROM THE FIRST FEW PAGES. See the website for more.
Liverpool Heritage Forum Special Newsletter. 1
A network of voluntary community societies concerned with heritage and culture in
the Liverpool area. Send your news to us on: zoom2222@btinternet.com. Also forward
this Newsletter to anyone who may be interested or, better still, send us extra names
for our circulation list,. Our website is : www.liverpoolheritageforum.org.uk
Newsletter No 58: 3 May 2009
Special
We have referred previously to the possibility, indeed probability, that Liverpool
Heritage Forum would have to be closed down due to lack of co-operation by the City
Council, indeed its the failure even to respond to correspondence.
The Forum has undoubtedly assisted in “spreading the word” about heritage during
the Year of Heritage (2007) and the City’s year as European Capital of Culture
(2008). It is beyond question that the Forum’s influence, be it great or small, has
been positive. Yet through the “reigns” of Jason Harborough and Phil Redmond the
Liverpool Culture Company (part of the City Council) and now the City Council itself,
“Town Hall” officials have failed to answer our letters, even after reminders, or to
have taken months to do so. It is not as though we have bombarded them with
letters. We have written a small number of considered letters, which merited not only
acknowledgement (which they mostly did not receive without one or more reminders
being sent) but also considered responses. Other simple forms of co-operation have
not been forthcoming.
The Forum’s steering group has come to the view that there is no point in it
continuing to exist if the City Council continues to behave like this. We say “the City
Council” but given the number of supporting words which a number of elected
Councillors have give to us orally, we wonder if the reason for the failure is that the
authority’s structure does not take heritage seriously and does not give its officials a
clear mandate and instruction to support heritage and to engage in constructive
dialogue with us as part of that. Or is it just that the City Council has no system for
such a simple task as answering letters?
So, does the City Council take heritage seriously? It would be extraordinary if it
doesn’t because cultural tourism is the City’s main hope for increasing employment.
To prove our point, we reproduce below a letter which we sent to Claire McColgan,
Head of Culture on 4 February 2009. (repeat 4 February). Having received no
response, we sent a reminder on 29 March (repeat 29 March). We received a reply
on 1 May 2009 (repeat 1 May). The texts are below.
In order to test the opinion of the people who have shown interest in the Form’s
activities and the situation it finds itself in, we have prepared a questionnaire, which
we hope you will answer. This is at the back of his Newsletter.
Liverpool Heritage Forum Special Newsletter. 2
Letter dated 4 February 2009 from Andrew Pearce, Chairman of Liverpool Heritage
Forum, to Claire McColgan, Head of Culture at Liverpool City Council with a copy to Councillor Gary Millar, Cabinet Member for Enterprise & Tourism:
A network of voluntary community societies concerned with heritage and culture in
the Liverpool area. Send your news to us on: zoom2222@btinternet.com. Also forward
this Newsletter to anyone who may be interested or, better still, send us extra names
for our circulation list,. Our website is : www.liverpoolheritageforum.org.uk
Newsletter No 58: 3 May 2009
Special
We have referred previously to the possibility, indeed probability, that Liverpool
Heritage Forum would have to be closed down due to lack of co-operation by the City
Council, indeed its the failure even to respond to correspondence.
The Forum has undoubtedly assisted in “spreading the word” about heritage during
the Year of Heritage (2007) and the City’s year as European Capital of Culture
(2008). It is beyond question that the Forum’s influence, be it great or small, has
been positive. Yet through the “reigns” of Jason Harborough and Phil Redmond the
Liverpool Culture Company (part of the City Council) and now the City Council itself,
“Town Hall” officials have failed to answer our letters, even after reminders, or to
have taken months to do so. It is not as though we have bombarded them with
letters. We have written a small number of considered letters, which merited not only
acknowledgement (which they mostly did not receive without one or more reminders
being sent) but also considered responses. Other simple forms of co-operation have
not been forthcoming.
The Forum’s steering group has come to the view that there is no point in it
continuing to exist if the City Council continues to behave like this. We say “the City
Council” but given the number of supporting words which a number of elected
Councillors have give to us orally, we wonder if the reason for the failure is that the
authority’s structure does not take heritage seriously and does not give its officials a
clear mandate and instruction to support heritage and to engage in constructive
dialogue with us as part of that. Or is it just that the City Council has no system for
such a simple task as answering letters?
So, does the City Council take heritage seriously? It would be extraordinary if it
doesn’t because cultural tourism is the City’s main hope for increasing employment.
To prove our point, we reproduce below a letter which we sent to Claire McColgan,
Head of Culture on 4 February 2009. (repeat 4 February). Having received no
response, we sent a reminder on 29 March (repeat 29 March). We received a reply
on 1 May 2009 (repeat 1 May). The texts are below.
In order to test the opinion of the people who have shown interest in the Form’s
activities and the situation it finds itself in, we have prepared a questionnaire, which
we hope you will answer. This is at the back of his Newsletter.
Liverpool Heritage Forum Special Newsletter. 2
Letter dated 4 February 2009 from Andrew Pearce, Chairman of Liverpool Heritage
Forum, to Claire McColgan, Head of Culture at Liverpool City Council with a copy to Councillor Gary Millar, Cabinet Member for Enterprise & Tourism:
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