Cross artform

Cuts to a wide range of services across Birmingham including arts and culture are based on "imagined data", it has been claimed.

The Guardian reports that sources inside the Labour-led council said the local authority’s finances were in disarray as a result of a faulty IT system rollout and a £760m equal pay liability bill, which led it to effectively declare bankruptcy, could be hugely overstated.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Tilsley said: “The figure of £760m is a figment of someone’s imagination, in my opinion.

“If you look at the estimated claimants, the numbers are just incompatible, it defies financial imagination.

“And this figure is ruining this city. We’re going to see the real basic infrastructure of the city, things like libraries, closed and sold off, and when they’re gone they can’t be replicated. I’m seeing the heart ripped out of my city.”

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “In early 2023, there were a variety of estimates of equal pay liability, which were wide-ranging and clearly needed further work. Further detailed analysis was requested and subsequently the findings were shared with the public and all members of this council.

“Since then the council has worked tirelessly with trade unions and the commissioners to agree a job evaluation scheme that will help to end the equal pay liability once and for all.

“A budget for the next two years was approved by full council in March. We must now focus on how we spend what we have in the most effective way, and we are committed to getting the basics right across a whole range of service areas.”

Building work to transform a former industrial building in Loughborough into a creative arts centre will begin this month.

The BBC reports that the £2.5m project to create a large-capacity, multi-purpose cultural centre for the town at the Generator Hall is due to be completed by next spring.

The Generator CIC, a community interest company managed by volunteers, said it has "been working hard for several years" to transform the 1930s building.

In addition to £1.8m previously secured from various channels, £700,000 from the government's Community Ownership Fund was confirmed on 22 December, allowing contracts to be signed and builders to be arranged.

David Pagett-Wright, Chair of the Generator CIC, said: "Alongside this amazing breakthrough, we've been working incredibly hard behind the scenes for reasons we can now reveal.

"When we went to tender in July 2023, we discovered that recent, exceptional inflation in building costs had made our established plans no longer feasible. We hit quite a wall.

"We had to re-work our plans, creating a two-stage approach, and then go back to our main funders to get their agreement. Thankfully, all are on board with this approach."