
Sir Paul McCartney owes Liverpool taxpayers more than £300,000 after being overpaid for this summer's Liverpool Sound concert, has have been revealed.
McCartney's production company MPL needs to repay £323,046 because the council ended up providing "staffing commitments" for which MPL was paid.
It was MPL itself which alerted town hall officials to the issue regarding the concert finances which was on of the high spots of the city's European Capital of Culture programme.
The concert staged at Anfield Stadium was a sell-out but it has also emerged that the city will lose money on the event.
Town hall figures show that £1,917,000 was spent staging the event which generated £1,874,318 in revenue.
Sir Paul pays the £300,000 the authority will still make a £42,800 loss.
That figure also excludes £323,0000 spent on a feasibility study into a scrapped plan to stage the concert in a drained and re-flooded dock, or the £150,000 donations to McCartney's Lipa and the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Fund.
Opposition leaders are demanding a clear breakdown of the figures and an inquiry into the financial management of the event.
But the council chiefs say the concert in June did wonders for the city's image repaided the investment by raising the city's profile worldwide.
A Liverpool Culture Company spokesman said "We've had to itemise every single piece of expenditure and income and we've had to wait for some figures to come back from the club before we could send the final bill to MPL so their accountants could check there for duplication of costs.
"The repayment should be imminent."
Leader of the opposition Labour group on Liverpool Council Cllr Joe Anderson said: "We thank them for notifying us that we've overpaid them.
"The real issue is that we've put on a concert with world-class acts and we still manage to lose money.
"The whole thing could have been managed much more efficiently."
Liverpool youth charged over bomb scare
(Tue 07/02)
Trio admit drug racket at Liverpool Crown Court
(Mon 06/02)
Post a comment