Eleven bids for City of Culture 2017

Eleven cities, towns and areas will make bids to become the UK City of Culture in 2017, the DCMS has announced. They are: Aberdeen, Chester, Dundee, East Kent (covering Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Thanet), Hastings and Bexhill on Sea, Hull, Leicester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, and Swansea Bay (covering Swansea, Carmarthenshire, Neath, and Port Talbot). The 11 locations have until the end of April to submit initial bids which will be judged by an independent advisory panel, with a shortlist announced in June. The first City of Culture is Derry-Londonderry which hopes to create 2,800 tourism jobs by 2020 as a legacy of hosting the event.