No effort or money to run elections, he claims. Now we discover not only is Cllr “Turkey” Bialyk struggling to pursue his ambition to take over neighbouring districts he is also bidding for Exeter to become “City of Culture in 2029”.

It’s all a matter of priorities.

See below for what’s involved in this latest “distraction”. – Owl   

Exeter is putting in a bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2029.

Chloe Parkman www.bbc.co.uk

The city council said it would be  submitting an expression of interest, joining other locations including Plymouth, Bristol and Portsmouth in the race to win the title.

The winning city will be awarded £10m in funding to create a year-long celebration of arts and culture.

Council leader Phil Bialyk said the bid would help raise the city’s profile and show Devon is not just about “scones and cream”. The deadline for entries is 8 February.

The council said its bid followed five months of extensive engagement and consultation with artists, creatives, cultural organisations and residents to shape a five-year Cultural Strategy for Exeter.

Bialyk said it was a fantastic opportunity for the city and added “it’s a chance to put Exeter once again on the national and international map”.

He said the city already had “so much going on” in terms of arts, culture and leisure.

“Following two rugby world cups in the city – the men’s in 2015 and the women’s last year – we have more than demonstrated Exeter’s ability to rise to the occasion and host big international events that put culture at the heart of our offer,” he added.

“We want to grow, we want good jobs, we want good people, we want homes and we believe the City of Culture will be exactly the right thing for Exeter.”

Analysis from Miles Davis, BBC Devon political reporter

It’s the timing of this announcement that is most interesting – coming only two weeks after Exeter City Council’s leader cancelled elections due to be held in May.

When he cancelled those elections, the Labour leader Phil Bialyk said it was to save money and that council staff were overloaded with work trying to prepare for the reorganisation of local government which will see Exeter City Council and many other councils abolished by April 2028.

But now it seems there are staff and resources available to prepare a bid to become the UK City of Culture.

The potential rewards are clear but with cities and towns from Plymouth to Blackpool all entering the contest – competition will be fierce.

What a bid involves – Owl

Here are some extracts from the Department for Culture,Media & Sport’ Expression of Interest: Guidance for bidders 

Benefits of bidding 

We know that bidding for the title – not just winning – can have a hugely positive impact on a place. The process of preparing a bid can help to bring partners together and develop strategic cultural leadership, showcasing and opening up access to your local culture, art and heritage, and articulating your ambitions for the future. We know from previous competitions that these ideas and partnerships can, and often will, carry on irrespective of whether a bid is ultimately successful and many previous bidders have gone on to realise elements of their bids despite being unsuccessful in this competition.

The last competition received a record number of bids and this time around we want as many places as possible from across the UK to have the opportunity to draw on the benefits of bidding. We have designed the competition with this in mind: with a light touch initial EOI stage and funding to support bidders in the later stages of the competition, as well as for runners up. We would encourage bidders to think about how you would use DCMS funding and work with partners to take forward elements of your bid, even if you are not selected as UK City of Culture 2029.By 9 February bidders have to submit an initial “Expression of Interest” (EOI).

To be successful, EOIs must demonstrate how they meet the criteria and show potential to make a significant contribution to the aims of the UK City of Culture programme. There are six aims and 20 criteria:

UK City of Culture 2029 competition aims and criteria

Aims	Criteria
1. Share and celebrate a uniquely local story and vision which uses culture and creativity to transform a place	1. Vision: Articulate a strong and unique vision for your place and programme, informed by communities and underpinned by a compelling local story which uses the catalytic effect of culture and heritage to bring people together, building a sense of place and inspiring local pride. 2. Leadership: Demonstrate a strong, collaborative leadership approach with clear commitment and involvement from local authorities, community organisations, and the cultural sector, ensuring a credible long-term cultural legacy. 3. Local need: Set out a programme and legacy that is shaped by communities and uses culture to respond to and address specific local priorities and targets those that are most in need. 4. Transformation: Present a strategic understanding of what ‘transformation’ means for your place and how it can deliver a measurable and sustaining step change for people and place, including the articulation of clear social, wellbeing and economic impacts.
2. Create transformative opportunities and richer lives for people and communities	5. Opportunity: Create increased opportunities for everyone, especially young people, to access and participate in culture. 6. Empower: Demonstrate commitment to actively including local communities, grassroots artists and creatives, and regional and local leaders in decision-making. Also demonstrate commitment to supporting them to directly shape the bid, programme and legacy, devolving decision-making power to communities where possible. 7. Cohesion: Promote and increase community cohesion, engaging and inspiring local communities to volunteer and bring people together by creating spaces and opportunities for social mixing. 8. Pride: Build a sense of belonging and inspire local and national pride.
3. Create a sustainable economic impact by delivering good jobs and boosting growth in your place or wider region	9. Context: Show a clear understanding of how your proposal fits with and strengthens wider regional or national growth plans. 10. Growth: Increase investment in culture and creativity, leading to higher productivity and output, to enhance the profile of the area as a cultural destination, leading to boosted tourism and new investment to drive inclusive growth. 11. Jobs: Increase local employment opportunities in the cultural and creative industries – before, during and beyond your programme year. 12. Skills: Increase inclusive opportunities for the development of specialist and life skills and for routes into creative and cultural careers, including for but not limited to young people.
4. Champion quality and innovation	13. Quality: Deliver a high quality cultural programme that builds and expands on local strengths and assets, and draws on the best of the UK’s art, heritage and creative industries to contribute to the UK’s reputation as a world-leader in the cultural and creative industries. 14. Innovation: Demonstrate cultural and artistic excellence, creativity and innovation, including through using technology to open up access to culture. 15. Environmental responsibility: Embed environmentally sustainable practices into the programme and its legacy, demonstrating contribution to the UK’s Net Zero and nature protection objectives, and promote and inspire environmental responsibility.
5. Reach out locally and across the UK to work with a range of diverse partners	16. Shared story: Strengthen and celebrate connections with places across the four nations of the UK (and also internationally, if important to your place and its story), drawing on culture and heritage to collaboratively tell our shared story through an outward-looking and highly inclusive programme. 17. Partnerships: Collaborate with a broad range of local, regional and national partners (and also international, if important to your place and its story), actively pursuing new opportunities and making meaningful and lasting connections that contribute to your place’s long term vision.
6. Maximise the legacy of the UK City of Culture programme	18. Evaluate: Present a robust and achievable evaluation plan and methodology to monitor and evaluate the impact and expected step change of the programme, drawing on previous winning places. 19. Embed: Demonstrate a clear understanding of how the programme aligns with and/or embeds into existing local cultural strategies beyond 2029, or how the programme can be used as a catalyst to develop a cultural strategy which aligns with existing local strategies. 20. Sustain: Present an ambitious and robust plan that demonstrates how the strategy underpinning the programme will deliver a strong ecosystem of cultural and creative organisations rooted in and actively shaped by the community, and strengthen local leadership, partnerships and capability.

A Devon MP has pushed for greater financial support for flooding after telling Parliament that his part of the county was “submerged” amid this week’s storms.

Bradley Gerrard, Local Democracy Reporter www.devonairradio.com/

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat member for Honiton and Sidmouth, addressed the weekly Parliamentary landmark event, Prime Ministers Questions, with his push for better support, as parts of his constituency found themselves fighting a losing battle against flood waters.

Looking towards Otterton Mill left (Image courtesy: Melanie Martin).

“The Met Office reports that climate change is driving wetter winters, yet the US withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement yesterday, on the same day that much of the westcountry disappeared under flood water,” he said.

“My part of Devon is submerged and needs better flood defences. Would the deputy prime minister like to invite his US counterpart for a fishing trip in the South West.”

David Lammy, the deputy prime minister who was standing in for the prime minister Keir Starmer who is in China, quipped that he would “get a licence if I do”.

However, he added that his “sympathies are with [Mr Foord’s] constituents who have been affected”.

“We are investing a record £10.5 billion in flood defences to protect 890,000 homes,” Mr Lammy said.

“We inherited the current flood defences from the party opposite, which were shameful, but we have committed to net zero and the Paris Climate Agreement, which is good for lowering bills, and investment and jobs in the UK.”

Mr Foord’s question came just after comments to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the damage in his constituency from flooding.

“Storm Chandra has left a brutal trail of destruction across Mid and East Devon, with dozens of businesses and schools forced to close,” he said.

“I’ve been shocked at the pictures of communities under water, in ways that we have not seen for decades.

“I commend community-spirited residents and local farmers who have come to the rescue of people stuck in floodwater.”

He added that Ottery St Mary, Honiton, Axminster, Cullompton and Colyton were among towns affected, along with surrounding villages.

“I am particularly dismayed at the images of Tipton St John Primary School, whose grounds resemble a lake once again,” he said.

“The community here desperately needs plans progressed for a new school on higher ground in the village. I will work with local councillors to do what I can to bring this about.”

Mr Foord added the risk to life red ‘severe flood warning’ to the River Otter (one of only two such warnings in the UK on Tuesday 27 January), has now been lifted but a flood alert remains in place.