I received this missive from Nanny's chums in Liverpool City (Capital of Culture) Council yesterday, in response to my article about them banning the Mathew Street Festival.
Needless to say, on reading it, it is evident that this is a pro forma "excuse" note sent out to anyone who writes in complaining about the cancellation.
It is clear that the council are not even bothering to read the complaints being sent in.
I reproduce it in full below, and draw your attention to Nanny's favourite phrase "eliminate risk".
For the umpteenth time, you can no more eliminate risk than you can teach a dog to walk permanently erect (can I say erect?).
Nanny is kidding herself and her minions when she spouts this bullshit.
"I am writing with regard to your recent enquiry expressing your concerns regarding the cancellation of this year's Mathew Street Festival.
We are also very frustrated and disappointed that the decision had to be made to cancel this year’s festival but it was taken following extensive consultation with interested parties and advice from one of the country’s leading Events Health and Safety specialists.
The popularity of the festival and increasing crowds in recent years meant that with the loss of the Pier Head as a performance space and the other regeneration activities within the City, the risks posed to Health and Safety by staging the event in the streets were significant and ultimately unavoidable.
Despite the change in the space available for the festival we were determined to find a way to run the festival within the City Centre and had identified locations for seven stages to accommodate the expected crowds. We worked hard to eliminate safety risks associated with the location of these stages but in the end the independent review still recommended that we should not go ahead. In the face of this expert advice there was no other option open to us than to cancel. It would have been irresponsible in the extreme for us to have ignored this advice. The reason for the lateness of the decision was that we remained determined to find a way to run the festival until we received the expert advice.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Green
Operations Director
Liverpool Capital of Culture"
Actually it sounds reasonable - he is saying that Crapita said no. I havbe no doubt that Crapita would be a reasoanble target for anyone's ire. They usually are.
ReplyDeleteGrant