Hampshire Council cuts puts cultural organisations at risk

Five arts and culture organisations are facing closure following £600k of planned budget cuts by Hampshire County Council (HCC), Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) has warned.

The council, which is HCT's primary funder, has proposed reducing its annual funding of HCT from £2.5m to £1.9m by 2027. Speaking at the launch of a budget consultation on Monday (8 January), HCC leader Rob Humby said "tough decisions" were needed to make savings of £132m by April 2025.

HCT cautioned that five of the 24 venues it operates will close if the cuts go ahead. In a statement, HCT said Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham, Westbury Manor Museum and Eastleigh Museum are expected to shut early next year, while Curtis Museum in Alton and Andover Museum and the Museum of the Iron Age are facing withdrawal by 2026.

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HCT said it would work with local partners to explore additional funding options that might keep its locations in Alton and Andover open.

Separately, the trust will also cease to operate Bursledon Windmill in March 2024 following a withdrawal of funding by Eastleigh Borough Council in 2023.

"No option"

Chief Executive of HCT, Paul Sapwell, said the organisation did not want to close any of its venues but that the reduction in local authority funding left “no option but to make some very difficult decisions”.

“We intend to mitigate the full effect of the funding challenge through a wider business plan that includes potentially taking on new, more financially sustainable venues, as well as growing existing areas of our business.

“However, new opportunities and growth cannot fully offset the reduction in council funding currently proposed, and some venue closures will therefore also be necessary.”

In a statement, Fareham Borough Council (FBC), a partner district of HCC, said it had received 12 months' notice of closure from HCT for Westbury Manor Museum. Calling the decision “extremely disappointing”, Councillor Seán Woodward said that for FBC to provide further subsidy to the museum, which it paid £448,000 to refurbish in 2016, would be “throwing good money away”.

Budget at breaking point

When the cuts were announced in the autumn, a spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said they would work closely with [HCT] to explore a more sustainable financial solution to offer “more commercial freedom to generate their own income, independently from the County Council”.

“Like many local authorities nationally, our budgets are stretched to breaking point – because of high inflation, years of underfunding by central government and growing demand for core services like social care for vulnerable children and adults as more people need our help.

“We must look at all areas of our spending, including the range of both one-off funding and recurring grant funding we have provided over past years to support voluntary and not-for-profit organisations serving Hampshire communities – such as financial support awarded to the Hampshire Cultural Trust. We are committed to working closely with the trust on the details in relation to the proposals and possible implications should plans be agreed.”

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Hampshire is the latest cash-strapped council to put forward cuts to its cultural services, following Suffolk, Coventry, Bristol, Nottingham, Birmingham and Leeds. Around 26 English councils have declared or are on the verge of bankruptcy, with dozens more dealing with high debt levels.

Meanwhile, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) has indicated it will try to maintain a local arts centre despite not allocating any cultural funding in its spending for 2024-25. The council’s latest budget sparked renewed concerns that Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead may be at risk of closure.

In 2022, the then conservative-led RBWM ditched plans to cut 100% of its arts funding following a campaign supported by local MP and former PM Theresa May, offering a lifeline to Norden Farm Arts Centre, which was later provided £115,000 of support for 2022-23.

Speaking to the Art Newspaper, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Councillor Joshua Reynolds said that despite its budget not including cultural funds, the council was planning a multi-year funding deal with the arts centre.

Reynolds said: “There was a change of administration last May when we took control of the council. The former Conservative regime wanted to cut its funding to zero.

“We have agreed a one-year funding deal with the [Norden Farm Centre] and have made it clear that we want a three-year funding deal [with the institution], which we have been unable to implement this year because of various pressures.”