Mid-Devon Tories Kick Arts & Culture In The Teeth

10.12.24am GMT Wed 19th Mar 2008

A Liberal Democrat proposal to make Arts and Culture a priority in their budget for 2008-09 was heavily defeated by the controlling Conservatives and Independents at a meeting of Mid Devon District Council.

Moving the proposal, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Paul Williams (Tiverton) stressed the importance of voluntary arts groups in building and nurturing sustainable and inclusive rural and urban communities. He said "Contributions from companies such as Villages in Action, the Common Players and Crediton Drama Centre have helped to mould strong local communities and build community spirit. Without sustainable and inclusive communities, Mid Devon is nothing. You have frozen their grants for several years but we should be thinking about our communities. These groups do not want your high flowing words of support, they need resources and they need them now."

The Lib Dem Group Leader, Cllr David Nation (Crediton) drew the Council's attention to Audit Commission findings that Mid Devon spends only 8p per head of population on arts and culture, compared with £5.57 per head for the average District Council and £2.25 per head for our nearest neighbour average. He said "Our performance is a disgrace. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We must do better than this so please support our proposal."

Despite this plea, the Lib Dem proposal was defeated by 29 votes to 10.