Culture Year is a great chance to bury old image; The Big Feature IN ASSOCIATION WITH Rensburg Sheppards.

Byline: Bill Gleeson

LIVERPOOL'S Capital of Culture celebrations will kick off next week with the formal opening ceremony.

It's an event that will undoubtedly be attended by tens, maybe even hundreds, of thousands of visitors full of excitement about the year ahead.

But what will they all be thinking in 12 months' time? Will they conclude it has been worth it?

My view is that Capital of Culture is bringing three principal benefits to Liverpool.

The obvious one is the extra spending that comes with all the visitors expected to come to the city. The number of visitors will be measured in seven figures: their additional spending in nine figures.

As a way of generating extra spending, the Capital of Culture accolade is a clever marketing ploy. In this respect, it will undoubtedly be very successful. There are scores of big events organised for this year, including a superb early 20th-century retrospective at Tate Liverpool, which should do the trick.

The second way Culture year will benefit Liverpool is a lot less quantifiable, but no less important. This second benefit can be summed in one word: image.

Liverpool's image in the outside world - and its self image - have improved hugely already, following the 2003 announcement that the city was to be Capital of Culture.

For years, this city was the source of unrelenting bad news. Strikes, factory closures, job losses, decaying buildings, population and talent diaspora, Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Black Stuff, the Toxteth riots and the killing of James Bulger have all contributed to the impression of a place under extreme pressure.

But now, for once, that is changing. There is some good news around. Liverpool does have something of value to offer the world, and Capital of Culture amounts to an important external recognition of that fact that will help boost our collective psychological well being. It will provide our people, including our entrepreneurs, with a greater sense of confidence, and hopefully that will inspire them to go on and achieve bigger things.

The third big benefit arises due to a happy coincidence of timings. I say coincidence, though it's not entirely impossible someone somewhere in government spotted the opportunity 2008 would offer the city as Merseyside's Objective 1 programme reaches its conclusion.

Merseyside has received billions of economic regeneration aid from Brussels in the past 14 years. Most of that money has now been spent. As a result, the city centre is looking a lot more up-to-date and spruce than it ever did before.

What better way to advertise this massive facelift and reinvigor-ation process than with Culture Year and the extra visitors and profile it will bring?

NOR does it matter that some of that construction work isn't finished. The site of cranes on the skyline creates the impression of a bustling, dynamic, changing place that is receiving investment.

On the other hand, it is important to accept that Capital of Culture doesn't do much else than those things described above. It is not a panacea. In fact, if anything, its benefits have been exaggerated over the years.

It is also pretty clear that large parts of the city are still missing out. If you are in any doubt about that, then a visit to Shaw Street or Granby Street will put you straight. There are places in this city that have and will remain untouched by the progress offered by Culture year, which is a pity, as social inclusion was meant to be a big part of the Culture programme.

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