Paisley's bid to be UK City of Culture should enlist the enthusiasm of its community it it hopes to win, one of the directors of the current holders of the title has said.

Paisley has been short listed for the prestigious cultural title for 2021, and yesterday Phil Batty, director of Public Engagement and Legacy, said that enthusing the people of the town itself will be key to the bid.

Five shows from Hull are at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Hull 2017 team were in Edinburgh to see shows that could possibly be staged on Humberside in the second half of their year.

Four Hull based companies - Middle Child, Bellow Theatre, Pub Corner Poets and Silent Uproar - are staging shows at the Fringe, as well as a Hull 2017 commission, Frogman by Curious Director.

More than 100 volunteers from the city also took in a day at the Fringe yesterday.

Mr Batty said: "What cities, like Paisley, need to look for is how can they harness the mood, the engagement and the confidence of residents so that it goes on a four, five, six or seven year journey which Hull is currently on."

Mr Batty said: "We have already had a number of the cities come down to see us, one of which has been Paisley.

"One of the opportunities of being the second city to have the title is that ability to collaborate with other cities and see what works and what doesn't.

"What is key to a City of Culture is finding a voice of a particular place.

"So I know the team at Paisley have already been in lots of conversations with their residents, their own artistic community to find out what is the story of Paisley that they want to tell to this project, because that was UK City of Culture gives you, it gives you the platform to talk about your place."

Martin Green, director of Hull 2017, said: "These terrific theatre companies are already making waves and the Edinburgh Festival is a fantastic opportunity to perform to new audiences and bring some of the buzz of Hull 2017 to this world-renowned event."

Frogman is at the Traverse Theatre’s new venue CodeBase.

Middle Child will perform All We Ever Wanted Was Everything at Paines Plough’s Roundabout venue at Summerhall.

Bellow Theatre are at the Fringe with Bare Skin on Briny Waters at the Pleasance while Pub Corner Poets are making their Edinburgh Festival Fringe Debut with Sad Little Man.

Silent Uproar, will make their Fringe debut with A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) at the Pleasance after a sell-out run at New Diorama Theatre.