Call for independent arts trust

Lib Dem Leader Councillor Wera Hobhouse

The Liberal Democrat group on Rochdale is calling for a new Arts, Culture and Heritage Trust to be set up independent from Link4Life.

The Lib Dems have been campaigning against cuts to the arts and heritage service for several months.

They argue that the arts budget is disproportionate compared to the sports budget.

The calls come following the formation of a new group called the ‘Touchstone Challenge.’

The Leader of the Lib Dems, Councillor Wera Hobhouse said: “When we started to formulate our Lib Dem manifesto at the end of last year protecting our local Arts, Culture and Heritage came up as a big priority.

“Already at that point we felt that a separate Trust was the only way forward but recent weeks have demonstrated how urgently we need a solution, otherwise arts, culture and heritage will no longer exist as a meaningful service in this borough.

“If we had a separate trust the Council would need to separate the sports budget from the arts and heritage budget which would allow for much clearer accountability and ensure that the service gets the protection it deserves.”

The Leader of the Conservative party, Councillor Ashley Dearnley, said: “We don’t do things like that via press releases. It would be of great expense to the council to set up another group.

“We don’t run council services and council business through press releases.

“This is just a knee jerk reaction before looking into the information and trying to score party political points and I’m sorry but I’m not into that.”

The Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Colin Lambert was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

Link4Life declined to comment.