Suffolk county councillor defends proposed £500,000 arts funding cuts

Proposed cuts to arts funding in Suffolk have been defended by the county council’s deputy leader.

Cllr Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for finance and environment, said he understood the emotion around the council’s proposal to cut £500,000 of annual funding from arts organisations across the county.

However, he said the council was being ‘forced’ to make difficult decisions due to financial challenges facing public services.

Cllr Rout, in a online column about the cuts, said: “Demand is at an all-time high and shows little sign of abating. We must make choices – the toughest for years – about what we spend.

“We make no apology for prioritising the protection of adults and children. This is why we’re spending an additional £74 million on these services, but having to make £65 million of savings, too.”

He said the £528,000 arts grants saving could pay for 12 elderly people to be in residential care for a year or 23 children in foster care a year.

“Suffolk County Council must focus on what it is fundamentally and legally here to do and ensure the limited resources it has available are spent directly supporting those most in need. For now, annual arts grants are not something we can do if it means vulnerable residents going without support from us,” said Cllr Rout.

Arts organisations across the county have called for the council to reconsider, saying the cost saving would have a ‘huge impact’ on the thousands of children, young people and vulnerable people they support through community engagement work.

But Cllr Rout said: “I do not dispute the benefit both social and economic that the arts bring, but when we are faced with children that need to be removed from abusive families and taken into care, or getting those with special educational needs to and from school, or keeping a vulnerable resident in their own home – we must act.

“In many senses, these aren’t even choices. We have a legal duty to provide these services and are held to account on their quality. We must focus on what we are directly responsible for. What we need to spend on children’s services has gone up by 28 per cent in the last 12 months alone.

Yesterday, the artistic director of Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds said its original productions could also be at risk if its £100,000 county council funding was cut.

Cllr Bobby Bennett, county council cabinet member for equality and communities, said it was the most challenging budget-setting process for many years.

“Suffolk County Council must ensure the limited resources it has available are spent directly supporting those most in need. £528,000, which is the amount we need to remove from annual arts grants, could help to pay for these services,” said Cllr Bennett.

“While we very much value the work done by that the arts and cultural sector, we must focus our limited resources on the services where we have a legal duty to deliver.

“To help arts and culture organisations plan for this change we have ensured there is funding in place to provide 12 months' notice and will, of course, continue to work with them and offer project specific funding opportunities.”