Martin Tod warns of broken promises on the Tower Arts Centre

4.40.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Jul 2008

Martin Tod joins the Save Tower Arts demo last year

Winchester Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Campaigner, Martin Tod, has warned that the Conservatives look set to break the promises made about the Tower Arts Centre at the City Council Cabinet Meeting this Wednesday.

Martin Tod said:

"The Conservatives repeatedly promised a mixed evening programme 'focused initially on the Tower'. Only months after they made it, this promise looks set to be broken on Wednesday.

Most of the funding that was going to be 'focused initially on the Tower' will not be spent at the Tower at all. Despite the commitments made, much of the money is being transferred from the Tower to cover events at the Discovery Centre. A further chunk of the promised funding looks set to be spent outside Winchester.

When the Conservatives on the County Council slashed the Tower's funding back in December to cover out of control spending in the County Council's head office, I don't think anyone expected them to slash their promised funding for the Tower again in July. Their written commitment to focus the evening programme initially at the Tower has turned out to be worthless. They're set to break this promise and spend most of the money elsewhere.

Needless to say they also broke their promise to consult with the Tower's former users.

When you look at the figures in detail, it's clear that the County Council are, effectively, proposing to pull all their funding from the Tower leaving only the funds paid by Winchester's Town Forum and some of the funding paid by the City Council. If the County Council had their head office overhead spending under control, none of this would have needed to happen."