VE Day: Council duties under the Armed Forces Covenant
As we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Geoff Wild, Legal & Governance Consultant, looks at the duties of councils under the Armed Forces Covenant.
£270m boost for museums and galleries branded ‘sticking plaster’
21/02/2025 The announcement of £270m for museums and galleries is welcome but still just a ‘sticking plaster’ to cover a lack of funding, council chiefs say. |
Call for new cultural powers for mayors
05/11/2024 Mayors in England should be handed significant new powers and responsibilities over the creative, cultural and heritage life of their regions, according to a new report. |
Brum consults on £2.3m library cuts
05/04/2024 Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council has launched a consultation on how it will cut £2.3m from its library budget. |
Local government launches cultural services alliance
01/03/2024 Organisations representing local government have joined forces to form a new National Alliance for Cultural Services. |
Culture spend down by £500m
01/02/2024 Analysis has uncovered an almost £500m reduction in councils’ spending on libraries, culture, heritage and tourism since the onset of austerity. |
Dorset awards half a million to local culture
12/01/2024 Cultural services across Dorset are set to benefit from £486,000 over the next three years. |
£450k to kick-start library transformation
30/11/2023 A Manchester library has been awarded £453,964 to transform its Grade II Listed building and preserve its historic collections. |
Council digs up ‘remarkable’ evidence of pre-Christian royal practice
27/11/2023 A local authority’s community archaeology project has found ‘rare and remarkable evidence’ of the practice of pre-Christian beliefs at a royal site. |
Weymouth council to reconsider funfair cancellation
28/02/2023 Weymouth Town Council has announced it will reconsider a decision to cancel funfair bookings for this year. |
Four places shortlisted to be UK City of Culture 2025
21/03/2022 Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough are the four locations shortlisted to be UK City of Culture 2025. |
Museums and galleries to receive £48m boost
14/03/2022 Cultural venues across the country are set to receive £48m of funding to help improve access to the arts, the Government has announced. |
New commission launched to show value of cultural services
07/03/2022 A new commission to promote the role of arts and culture in England's recovery from the pandemic has been launched by the Local Government Association (LGA). |
Over 100 places to receive targeted arts funding
24/02/2022 Over 100 places that have been previously overlooked or neglected will be prioritised for arts funding. |
Council reverses decision to scrap all arts funding
14/02/2022 The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has decided against plans to cut arts funding by 100% following a public consultation. |
Council spending on the arts has halved since 2010
04/02/2022 Local authority expenditure on cultural services has fallen by 50% across England since 2009-2010, according to new research. |
Cultural sector to get £30m winter boost
22/12/2021 Theatres, museums and other organisations in the cultural sector will be able to draw on an extra £30m to help them through winter, Government says. |
Council spending on museums falls by more than a quarter in past decade
27/10/2021 Local authority spending on museums and galleries has fallen by 27% in the past decade, new analysis has found. |
Only half the Culture Recovery Fund paid out, NAO finds
12/03/2021 Only half of the money from the Government’s arts recovery fund has been paid out so far, a spending watchdog has warned. |
BUDGET 2021: Sunak's lifeline for workers and business
03/03/2021 Rishi Sunak’s Budget is expected to provide a lifeline for workers as the furlough scheme is extended to September while the universal credit £20 uplift could also be prolonged for six months. |
New research to show value of heritage and culture
21/01/2021 The culture and heritage sectors will be able to make a stronger case for investment following a new approach by the Government. |
Council chiefs call for culture funding to support people during lockdown
11/11/2020 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to invest more in culture, sport and leisure activities as a new report reveals councils spend over £2bn a year on these areas. |
|
Latest round of funding for heritage sites announced
09/11/2020 The major share of a £1.57bn fund dedicated to supporting the recovery of cultural assets has been awarded outside of London, according to the Government. |
|
Council chiefs call on Government to help local creative industries
05/08/2020 New guidance has been published to help over-stretched councils support their local creative industries recover from the coronavirus pandemic. |
|
Protecting art in a crisis
27/07/2020 Tiffany Cloynes and Clare Hardy outline how local authorities can play an important part in enabling arts and culture to flourish in their areas. |
|
Planning changes to protect theatres and music venues
13/07/2020 New planning rules to protect theatres, concert halls and live music performance venues from being demolished or redeveloped will come into effect next week. |
|
Government unveils £1.57bn rescue package for arts and culture
06/07/2020 The Government has announced a £1.57bn funding package to help cultural and heritage organisations survive the coronavirus crisis. |
|
Arts council announces £160m of ‘emergency funding’
25/03/2020 Council chiefs have welcomed the announcement of a multi-million-pound injection of funding to support the arts sector during the coronavirus pandemic. |
|
Winners announced for Hearts For The Arts Awards 2020
14/02/2020 A Windrush festival and a theatre company helping those affected by addiction are among the winners of this year's Hearts for the Arts awards. |
|
Whitehall announces £250m of culture spending
14/10/2019 The Government has announced £250m of funding for cultural projects, libraries, museums and the creative industries after a decade of cuts. |
|
Council services ‘declining’ due to £5bn funding gap, MPs say
21/08/2019 MPs have accused the Government of being ‘derelict in its duty’ by failing to set out a funding settlement that would ease the pressure on frontline services. |
|
Council approves plans for 10ft Thatcher statue
06/02/2019 Councillors in Lincolnshire have given the go ahead for a bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher to be placed in Grantham, home town of the late prime minister. |
|
Popular council services could be swallowed by £8bn funding black hole
01/02/2019 Many popular council services could disappear by 2025 due to a £8bn funding black hole, council leaders have warned today. |
|
Council spending on cultural services slashed by £400m
28/01/2019 Council spending on cultural resources such as museums, libraries, and the arts has been reduced by almost £400m over the last eight years of austerity, new research has revealed. |
|
Five areas to share £20m cultural development fund
18/01/2019 The five areas to receive £20m of funding to invest in culture have been unveiled by the Government. |
|
Cambridge CC to bring cultural services back in-house
24/12/2018 Cambridge CC has announced it will return to providing cultural services directly after Cambridge Live struggles to meet financial targets. |
|
Manchester to double its contribution to arts venue
06/11/2018 Manchester City Council is set to more than double its contribution to delivering a new arts venue after the cost of project rose by nearly £20m. |
|
Government announces £15m in cultural regeneration funds
23/03/2018 The tourism minister today committed to giving Blackpool, Bradford and the Lake District £15m in cultural regeneration funds for the North. |
|
Waltham named first London Borough of Culture
27/02/2018 Waltham Forest will be awarded over £1m as it is named the first ever London Borough of Culture. |
|
Coventry named UK City of Culture 2021
08/12/2017 Coventry has been chosen to be the UK's City of Culture for 2021. |
|
£15m fund to support culture and tech projects in the North
05/12/2017 Eleven towns and cities from across Northern England have bid for a share of a new £15m fund to support major culture and tech capital projects. |
|
Online hub created for councils to share innovative ways to invest in culture
17/08/2017 Financially-squeezed councils can now access a specialised online hub designed to help them share innovative ways to invest in culture. |
|
London to become 'leading 24-hour global city’, mayor says
26/07/2017 London is set to become a 'leading 24-hour global city' under plans unveiled by mayor Sadiq Khan. |
|
Mayor launches London Borough of Culture competition
03/07/2017 London’s boroughs will be able to apply for over £1m of funding in order to develop their cultural activities and stage ‘world-class’ cultural events. |
|
Newcastle-Gateshead to host 2018 Great Exhibition
11/10/2016 Newcastle-Gateshead has been chosen to host the 2018 Great Exhibition of the North. |
|
Arts and culture funding to be shifted away from the capital
05/10/2016 Funding for arts and culture outside of London will be increased by 4% by 2022, Arts Council England has announced. |
|
Hull announces £100m investment into cultural infrastructure
23/09/2016 Hull has launched ‘ambitious’ plans to invest £100m in cultural infrastructure in order to capitalise on its tenure as the UK City of Culture 2017. |
|
New programme will give 600 youths access to the arts, Whitehall claims
10/08/2016 A new programme promoting cultural engagement within disadvantaged communities will provide 600 young people increased access to the arts, the Government claims. |
|
Museums receive over £12m amid cuts in arts funding
03/08/2016 Museums across the country are to receive millions in funding to transform them into ‘sustainable and resilient businesses’, at a time when investment in the arts is decreasing. |
|
150-year-old Welsh museum under threat from cuts
08/01/2016 The future of Wales’ oldest museum is in question as council is forced to cut funding to cultural services in their bid to save £90m. |
