A match day parking company set up to benefit the north Liverpool community assisted eight companies based in Salford.
Earlier this week the ECHO revealed how The Beautiful Ideas Company (BICo) helped three companies based in Salford. They were Islington Mill Arts club, Mother May 1 Ltd and Drag Lab. Islington Mill and Mother May 1 were granted loans. Drag Lab, a cross dressing club, received rent free space in the mill.
The ECHO can now reveal that BICO, set up to use match day parking cash in north Liverpool to help the local community, assisted five other organisations all based in Islington Mill, Salford. BICO granted loans to One 69A, Ceramics Studio, The Burrow, IMPA TV and Sounds from the Other City. The loan to One 69A, a community interest company that ran a collective space, was written off.
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The loan to Ceramics Studio paid for an expansion of the workshop. IMPA TV ran a television studio from the mill. Sounds from the Other City hosted a music festival. No more information about the loans is available.
The information formed part of a document which was discussed at a meeting of the city's audit committee in 2018. The issues around BICo were discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the local authority on Wednesday night.
Cllr Alfie Hincks, of the Liverpool Community Independent group, described BICo as a “scandal” which “paints a picture of mismanagement, misuse of public funds and sleaze.” He added that the probes into the car park and individuals linked to it could not be allowed to be turned into a “whitewash." He added that there were serious concerns about BICo, and referred to the loans to Salford based organisations.
Cllr Hincks said: “When there is evidence of misuse of public funds, this council should be held accountable for this.” Group leader Cllr Anna Rothery repeated the call for an independent investigation, saying the investigation ordered by Mayor Anderson should not have been conducted by officers.
Mayor Joanne Anderson said she was committed to transparency and added "I've exhausted every avenue available to me" in respect to BICO. City solicitor Dan Fenwick said the council will look to investigate any allegations and if necessary, refer them to police.
A motion on the way forward for the council following motions and amendments put down by the Liverpool Community Independents, Labour and Liberal Democrats was voted on following an hour-long debate. The full text of the adopted compromised motion, including calls for a report on how the authority better handles information in future is to be published in due course.
Earlier this week Cllr Nick Small, a former director of BICo, addressed the funding of organisations in Salford. He shared a comment on social media which read: "BICO received Cabinet Office funding to deliver a project in North Liverpool and act as the accountable body for a similar project in Salford. The Salford project brought its own match-funding for their project."
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said they had no knowledge of BICo. In a separate post Cllr Small defended BICo's record when he said: "BICo has been toxified unfairly and deliberately to serve the narrow political agendas of others. As a result of this, the car park sites have remained derelict since BICO ceased operating them, continuing to blight the community."
On Monday city solicitor Dan Fenwick contacted Cllrs Steve Munby, Nick Small and Ann O'Byrne informing them they had been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to BICo. They were three of five councillors facing complaints raised by Mayor Joanne Anderson in relation to their roles with BICo.
On Sunday ( November 27) Cllr Small posted a comment on social media which read: "The Liverpool element used North Liverpool community car park as its match funding. The Salford element brought it own match funding from Salford. No Liverpool money was spent in Salford or vice versa."
BICo declined to comment on this story.
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