Chancellor pledges £10m to arts after council cuts

Creative leaders have warned Birmingham faces 'cultural deprivation'

The Chancellor has announced £15 million in funding for the West Midlands - including £10 million for its cultural sector.

Jeremy Hunt unveiled a range of measures on Wednesday, including cutting national insurance by 2p in the pound and extending the household support fund.

He said the West Midlands Combined Authority would get £10 million to support culture and heritage projects and £5 million to drive inward investment in the region.

It came after effectively-bankrupt Birmingham City Council said it would cut funding to arts and culture organisations over the next two years.

The money will not just be for Birmingham but spread across the seven councils which make up the authority, including Coventry, Solihull and those across the Black Country.

The region's Conservative mayor Andy Street praised the budget, also welcoming tax breaks for the creative sector which he said would benefit the region's theatres.

Ellie Peers, general secretary of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, singled out and welcomed support for culture in the West Midlands.

Last month, the leading lights of Birmingham's creative sector expressed dismay at the city council's drastic cost-cutting plans, warning the city faces cultural deprivation.