AN EAST Hampshire county councillor has defended a proposed £3.3 million cut to the county’s arts and entertainment budget, as being good for culture in the long-run.

Care homes, school transport for disabled children, and arts and entertainment are all on a council’s chopping block, politicians warned as Hampshire County Council unveiled initial plans to plug a £80m budget black hole by 2023 last week.

Of this, £40.6m will be cut from the adult services and public health budget, with a further £20m slashed from children’s services and £3.3m from culture and communities.

In the council’s proposed culture and community cuts, £550,000 will be taken from the library service budget and £915,000 from business services.

A further £515,000 will be cut from countryside and outdoor centres, which includes country parks.

These plans were debated at the culture and communities select committee on September 20, chaired by Conservative councillor for Petersfield Butser, Rob Mocatta.

Cllr Mocatta said: "Our culture has struggled during lockdown and it needs all the support we can give it.

"What we are proposing is to try and generate more revenue, focusing on that so we don’t have to make such deep cuts.

"Funding events and projects is an absolute requirement, but money is tighter than ever and it all boils down to that."

But Lib Dem spokesman for culture and communities, Cllr Peter Chegwyn, said: "The culture sector is only just starting to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the county council goes and kicks it in the teeth.

"With the grants budget basically disappearing many events and projects simply will not exist – they cannot function without it.

"The bottom line now is that everything has to be self-sustainable, but arts and entertainment doesn’t work like that. Now more than ever we should be supporting the culture sector, not decimating it."

All budget proposals must be agreed by the respective executive councillors, before going through cabinet and subsequently the full council.