Councils ‘unable to help with hands tied behind their backs’

RURAL COUNCILS want to invest in local arts and culture but cannot do so with “one arm tied behind their backs”, a North Yorkshire leader has warned.

Carl Les, the chief of North Yorkshire County Council, said rural areas needed fairer funding from the Government “and a more proportional share of Arts Council resource”.

Coun Les, the finance spokesman for the County Councils Network, said arts spending by county councils was down 70 per cent between 2010 and 2018, a bigger fall than any other type of authority.

But he said rural authorities “have had little choice in the face of huge rises in demand for care services mixed with historical underfunding of services compared to urban locations, alongside sharp decreases in government grants”.

This week North Yorkshire County Council set a four per cent council tax rise “with a heavy heart” and admitted the tax for the county was now at the “tipping point of acceptability”.

Coun Les said: “Rural areas are rich in history, heritage and culture but it is clear that those areas are not receiving their fair

share in funding to preserve and enhance the arts in county areas.

“Rural councils want to invest in their arts and culture but cannot do so with one arm tied behind their backs.

“They need fairer funding from the government – not only to protect services but to enhance and innovate them – and a more proportional share of Arts Council resource.”

Separately, a council leader in South Yorkshire has warned metro mayor Dan Jarvis of the dangers of “bright, shiny” buildings as part of his plans for arts and culture.

Mr Jarvis said participation and engagement rates in arts and culture in the Sheffield City Region were too low and there was more to do for these areas to contribute to the local economy.

A report by his office said the region was “undercapitalised in terms of investment from bodies such as the Arts Council. There are too few projects of scale, there has been limited collaboration and the offer is not promoted effectively”.

He plans to appoint an Arts and Culture Commissioner “who will provide ambitious leadership in addressing these challenges over a two-year period”.

One of the challenges will be to identify and develop “a number of signature capital-investment projects of scale”.

But Sir Steve Houghton, the leader of Barnsley Council, said: “Be very wary about the bright, shiny things we all want to build because it’s going to bring in millions of people into the area.

“Very often it turns out they aren’t and they don’t and there’s a massive cost to the public purse as a consequence.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have visitor attractions. We have got them in my borough. But nonetheless you can get sucked into these things as being what arts and culture are all about.”