The doomed attempt to attract Channel 4 to the West Midlands cost more than DOUBLE those of the region's rivals - and the spending continued even after the bid was lost.

A collective, led by mayor Andy Street, spent £282,000 trying to bring the broadcaster's national headquarters to Birmingham.

In contrast, the eventual winner, Leeds, spent just £110,000 and Greater Manchester - which also lost out - spent £121,000.

And the West Midlands team carried on spending public money after finding out their bid had failed - hosting a 'thank you' event for industry leaders at a cost of more than £3,000. 

Mayor Andy Street

Details of the spending emerged in responses to a Freedom of Information request submitted by BirminghamLive to the West Midlands Combined Authority.

The bid was made up of four key events:

  1. Producing the bid documents - a task assigned to specialists at KPMG, best known for tax and audit services, who brought in creative consultancy BOP Consulting to support the work. Total cost: £100,000
  2. Showcase event and formal pitch to Channel 4 execs, held at Birmingham City University on June 27. It was seen as a chance to show off the city's youthful credentials, talent and creative infrastructure. No expense was spared, with bespoke short films, a specially commissioned poem and a city-wide social media campaign (hashtag #WMGeneration) among the highlights. The bid was followed by round table discussions. Total cost: £56,241
  3. West Midlands bid team visited Channel 4 HQ in London for 'advanced negotiations' on August 17; and there was a site visit and industry round table sessions for Channel 4 execs held at Library of Birmingham on September 5. Total cost: £123,129.90
  4. The city was told its bid had failed in October. Organisers then hosted a 'thank you' event for those who had contributed to the effort, held at Fazeley Studios, Birmingham. Total cost: £3,128.10.

Mr Street said he had "no regrets".

He said: "We were in it to win it, and I have no regrets about going all out to secure Channel 4. It was deeply disappointing that we lost, but our bid galvanised the industry, surfaced brilliant young talent, and set us up for creative successes to come."

Channel 4

 

Which companies contributed to the bid?

A total of £100,000 was spent preparing the initial bid document by KPMG, supported by international creatives BOP Consulting, which has offices in London, Edinburgh, Shanghai and Taipei.

The two private companies then garnered another £34,000 between them for leading the one-day showcase event on June 27, topped up with £30,000 for creating a 'formal bid response' package ahead of the advanced negotiations events in August and September. Professional fees for leading the visit to London added another £6,426 to KPMG's bill.

The total given to the two firms came to £170,919.

Led by chief executive Neil Rami, the newly-created West Midlands Growth Company - owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority and its constituent members - received £62,643 for project management services.

Who else was involved?

Birmingham-based Zanna Creative, headed by founder director Suzie Norton, led on stakeholder engagement and ran a hugely-successful social media campaign using the hashtag #WMGeneration. The organisation also hosted a live social media event from three cities in one day, and joined the small formal pitch team to present to Channel 4. It received fees totalling £21,471.20

Another £3,600 was spent with Birmingham creative TV production company Hotbed Media, which provided consultancy support to plan and deliver the industry stakeholder round table event with the Channel 4 executive team in September. 

Edit Innovation held a creative workshop as part of the bid, at a cost of £6,080; while Solihull-based Zebra Digital produced short promotional films for the June showcase event, at a cost of £2,500, filmed the event at a further cost of £500, and produced additional shortbite films at a cost of £2,000.

The cost of producing branded window graphics with the event's 'Get Closer' slogan – put up for the single day showcase at Birmingham City University and then peeled off – cost £1,140; while KPMG's bespoke name badges and lanyards for guests at the event came to £493.15. The 'Get Closer' logo and lanyard are visible in the image below:

Performance poet Casey Bailey at the showcase event

An unnamed compere for the bid day event cost £529.84; and the cost of transporting guests and the Channel 4 bid team to the showcase day, hiring a photographer and lunches for the Channel 4 team totalled £774.

There was also £150 set aside for an overnight hotel stay for the unnamed pitch presenter and a member of Zanna Creative's team the night before the showcase; while £86.95 was spent on travel expenses for two people to attend rehearsals.

Hiring and staging the bid day event at Birmingham City University cost £2,751.67; while £2,125.80 was spent on hiring space and staging round table discussions and presentations at Birmingham Library

Among the other costs were: rail fare for the bid team to travel to London, £708.50; mini coach hire to transport the Channel 4 executive team on a formal visit to Birmingham on September 5, £140; one person's overnight stay ahead of August showcase event, £84.17; courier fees, £26.

Time Line

The West Midlands bid to woo Channel 4

  1. April-May

    Bid document prepared in response to Channel 4 challenge to cities

  2. June 27 at Birmingham City University

    Formal pitch presentation to Channel 4 execs, combined with 'industry stakeholder' event, featuring short films, drama, poetry and humour to showcase the city's #WMGeneration

  3. August 17, Channel 4 HQ, London

    Advanced negotiations with Channel 4 execs in London by a bid team including: Neil Rami, West Midlands Growth Company; Jonnie Turpie, Midlands Arts Centre; 
Suzie Norton, Zanna Creative Ltd
; Dawn Baxendale, Birmingham City Council; James Craig, Oval Real Estate Limited; Julian
 Beer, Birmingham City University; 
Anita Bhalla, Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership

  4. September 5, Library of Birmingham

    Site visit and 'industry round tables' session led by Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands; Neil
 Rami, West Midlands Growth Company;  Johannah Dyer, Hotbed Media
; with 35 industry representatives and eight officers from Channel 4

  5. November 8, FazeleyStudios, Digbeth, Birmingham

    Thank you event for 70 industry representatives led by mayor Andy Street, Stephen Knight of Mercian Studios
 and Dawn Baxendale, Birmingham City Council

Mr Street spearheaded the bid, which was paid for entirely by public funds from the West Midlands Combined Authority, Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council and the region's Local Enterprise Partnerships. Birmingham City Council contributed £56,000 towards the bid.

The mission was to wow Channel 4's execs by showcasing young talent across the region through film, drama, music and poetry during a dazzling bid event in the city, backed up by workshops and round table discussions in Birmingham and London to seal the deal.

The bid won city-wide support from businesses, universities, media, celebrities and creative organisations - including BirminghamLive and Birmingham Post & Mail.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street (left) and Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward with the Birmingham Post's Channel 4 supplement
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street (left) and Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward with the Birmingham Post's Channel 4 supplement

But Channel 4 eventually picked Leeds as the best destination for its new regional base.

It meant the region missed out on 300 jobs, a new state-of-the-art digital studios and the potential to dramatically grow the region's creative sector with Channel 4 as the catalyst.

Greater Manchester's bid, led by Manchester City Council, cost a total of £121,000.

The total cost to Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority was £110,429.44 - with the Combined Authority funding £78,602.54 and Leeds City Council £31,826.90.

That means the West Midlands bid cost more than the other two finalist bids combined.

Nailbiting time: West Midlands Mayor Andy Street

Channel 4 bosses ultimately selected Leeds as the main HQ, and also announced creative hubs would be established in Glasgow and Bristol.

After the bid was lost, Mr Street expressed his disappointment over the failed campaign and said he still believed Birmingham's bid met Channel 4's criteria better than the others.

But Coun Ian Ward, Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, was unsympathetic in the bid aftermath: "Let's be clear, when you set out on things and you put yourself forward to be leader, you have to, at the end of the process, stand up and explain, and be accountable for the success and failure.

"I have made my position clear. The mayor put himself at the head of the bid and if questions are to be asked he should be the one to answer them.

"Channel 4 offered a debrief, the mayor should explain to the people of West Midlands what went wrong and why in the end we didn't win."

Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington, said the failed bid had "let down" the West Midlands.

He said: "How is it Andy Street managed to spend more than Manchester and Leeds combined on a failed bid that let the West Midlands down, and richly rewarding a consultant KPMG with a fee in excess of £100,000?"