Culture Company to cease at end of 08

Liverpool Culture Company will be disbanded at the end of 2008, it has been revealed.

Until now, there has been a question mark over exactly what will happen to the company created to ensure the city's Capital of Culture year is a resounding success. But it has emerged that a new in-house business unit will be created to replace it.

The 08 Place, in Whitechapel, will be renamed as part of a re-branding exercise currently being developed to market the city following 2008.

Liverpool City Council has not ruled out redundancies among the Culture Company's current 100-strong team, but says it hopes to redeploy as many employees as possible elsewhere.

A bid to the North West Development Agency for a grant of £3m to help develop a new cultural programme will be submitted this Friday.