Birmingham is bankrupt. That sounds stark to anyone outside Britain’s so-called second city. Imagine what that’s like for someone like me, who lives there. The crisis will hit residents in all sorts of ways. The current plan for dealing with the budget shortfall involves cutting £149m from vital statutory services, including children’s services, youth services, adult social care and homelessness prevention. But for me, what really stings are the brutal funding cuts to the social and cultural scene of a thriving city that gave the world JRR Tolkien and Black Sabbath. In any budget cut, the question is always why should we choose galleries over childcare support or more maintenance workers? But why is it that we never ask what needs to be done so that we can keep both? They are just as important.
Part of the plan agreed with Michael Gove, when he was levelling up secretary, was to cut funds from 25 of my city’s 35 community libraries. Ikon Gallery, Midlands Arts Centre and Birmingham Rep theatre are among the places that have lost funding for 2024-2025.
