Cash for 'empowering' Midlands arts projects

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, said the Scala in Worcester and Cultural Gateway in Coventry would help "ignite growth" in the cities

The government has confirmed funding for arts projects in Coventry and Worcester which had been under threat as part of a review of spending.

A city centre cultural gateway in Coventry will receive £5m, while projects linked to the Scala theatre in Worcester will get £2.3m, ministers said.

Projects totalling £100m had originally been announced under the previous Conservative government's levelling-up programme, which Labour announced it would review when it took power.

Funding worth a total of £47m was announced for projects across England, and another £20m in other parts of the UK, with many of the previous grants cancelled or reduced.

Under the Tory plans, both schemes in the West Midlands would have received £5m.

The Coventry project will see the former IKEA building, taken over by the city council after the store's closure in 2020, transformed into an "exploration space... bringing together multiple partners across transport, technology and the creative and cultural sectors," the government said.

In addition to the question mark over the government's contribution, the scheme has seen the original contractors go out of business prompting calls from local Conservatives for no more to be spent on what they called the "flatpack folly".

Last week, news emerged that new contractors had been identified.

'More tourism and growth'

In Worcester, the reduced grant will go towards three projects linked to the restoration of the city's Scala theatre including an on-site co-working space, restoration of part of the Corn Exchange and a "welcoming space for younger generations" at the Angel Place is Your Space hub.

Work on the main theatre scheme started in January when council leader Lynn Denham described it as "something entirely new for Worcester, a creative venue focused on participation, live performance, independent film, visual arts and talent development".

The deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said the funding would "empower both local leaders and people to really tap into their potential and celebrate everything their home town has to offer".

She added: "This means more tourism, more growth and more money in people's pockets."

Other projects to receive funding include York's National Railway Museum, the International Slavery Museum and the Maritime Museum in Liverpool, and Temple North and the National Poetry Centre in Leeds.