A bid for Borderlands region that included Dumfries and Galloway to become 2025 UK City of Culture has not progressed to the longlist stage, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have announced.
The Borderlands bid was one of 20 areas or places who entered the national competition in July 2021, with a total of eight making the longlist – Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon; Bradford, Cornwall, County Durham, Derby, Southampton, Stirling and Wrexham County Borough.
The ambitious Borderlands bid was submitted by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) on behalf of the five different local authority areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Carlisle City, Cumbria and Northumberland who make up the Borderlands Partnership.
SOSE Chair, Professor Russel Griggs OBE, and Chair of the Borderlands City of Culture Steering Group said:
“While disappointed that we have not made the 2025 UK City of Culture longlist, it has still been a thoroughly worthwhile exercise.
“It has helped showcase our passion and ambition to the rest of the country, particularly around the twin crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change.
“We pass on our congratulations and good luck to those areas and places who successfully made the 2025 UK City of Culture longlist.”
- The 2025 City of Culture winner will be announced in spring 2022 and will follow Coventry’s tenure as UK City of Culture 2021.
- The DCMS news release is available here from Friday 8 October.
- The Borderlands 2025 UK City of Culture bid aimed to build on the strong partnership developed between the councils as they developed the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. However, this bid was not part of the Deal which is a defined set of projects and programmes and is currently being delivered, following signing of the Deal on March 2021.
