With just days to go before the first London Borough of Culture is named, Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a further £1 million boost for the hotly-contested scheme.

Waltham Forest and Redbridge are among 22 boroughs which have bid for the award which gives local authorities money for cultural events.

The two winning boroughs for 2019 and 2020 will be announced by the Mayor on Tuesday, February 27.

On top of £1.1m already committed to each winner, an extra £500,000 will be split evenly among the two authorities for creative projects aimed at helping young people from diverse backgrounds.

£250,000 will go towards entrepreneurship programmes in the two chosen boroughs, providing mentoring to the cultural leaders of tomorrow, and a further £250,000 has been allocated for six projects submitted by bidding boroughs. This puts the final figure for the scheme at £1.35 million.

Mr Khan, said: “Despite London’s position as the world’s culture capital, too many young Londoners do not have access to the city’s exceptional cultural institutions and don’t get involved in cultural projects. 

“That’s why I’m delighted to be able to allocate an extra £1million of funding for cultural projects aiming to unlock young Londoners’ creative potential and inspire the next generation of artists, performers and creative talent.”