Hundreds of jobs at risk and arts funding to be scrapped at cash-strapped Suffolk County Council
Hundreds of jobs are at risk and arts funding is to be scrapped as a county council struggles to balance its books.
Suffolk County Council says it needs to make make millions of pounds of cuts and increase council tax by the maximum permitted so it can protect the most vulnerable.
But arts organisations and trade unions have reacted with shock and anger at the plans, warning they could take council services to breaking point.
County councils are struggling with the effects of inflation and rising demand for things like children's services - and in Suffolk that could mean cuts of almost £65m over the next two years.
The council is also hoping to save £11m in a staff restructure which could see hundreds of jobs lost.
The Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds is one of the organisations which could lose its £100,000 funding in the sweeping cuts.
Built in 1819, it has gone bust twice, been used as a barrel store by neighbours Greene King - and repeatedly saved by its community.
Artistic director Owen Calvert-Lyons said: "It's devastating news. It will have a huge impact on our work.
"People in our community really value having a theatre in their community and I think therefore voters and taxpayers get really frustrated when they see this thing that they care about not being supported."
Other arts organisations are in the same boat, with council cash set to be cut from events like Lowestoft's First Light Festival and Ipswich's New Wolsey Theatre.
A shared statement from major arts groups in the county warned that the cost to the county of cutting arts funding would go far beyond the finances.
"The proposed cut to these organisations will provide an extremely modest difference to the council’s overall finances, representing a saving of just 0.057% of the council’s 23/24 revenue budget.
"However, the cost to our county will be so much more significant," they say, pointing out they support 100,000 children and vulnerable people a year, and employ nearly 500 people.
The groups - DanceEast, Eastern Angles Theatre Company, First Light Festival, The New Wolsey Theatre, Primadonna Festival, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, and Suffolk Artlink - added: "Our organisations, both collectively and individually, call on Suffolk County Council to consider the merit of a small cost saving, compared to the huge impact this will have on communities across Suffolk who benefit from our work.”
Councillor Bobby Bennett said difficult decision were having to be made.
"Like councils up and down the country we're facing the hardest budget setting process we've seen in many years.
"We have been through the budget line-by-line and are prioritising the spend where we need to - with children in care, those with special educational needs and our vulnerable adults those who need more support."
The council - which has previously come under fire over its special education provision - says it needs to pump £74m into special educational needs and disabilities, care services and home to school transport.
It says that 75p in every pound spent will go on its most vulnerable residents.
But trade union Unison says cuts would take services past breaking point.
Neil Bland, branch secretary, said: "It’s still too early to say exactly where the axe will fall, but cuts on this scale will mean hundreds of job losses.
“This will be a disaster for council workers as well as the people relying on the services they provide.
“Even if the council manages to avoid or minimise compulsory redundancies, remaining staff will have unmanageable levels of extra work piled on them. Communities across Suffolk are sure to feel the hit."
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