Of all Cumbria’s districts Eden is (and will remain, despite the exciting developments at Lowther Castle) the most poorly served in terms of public and charitable venues for culture in Cumbria. The cuts announced last week by the District Council are potentially a killing blow for the mainstay of the district’s cultural offer delivered before the Arts Council has confirmed its offer of National Portfolio funding to Eden Arts.

This devastating cut follows a consultation earlier in the year, the gist of which was that the Council wished to implement the cuts by stepping down funding year on year, hoping that Eden Arts could find new funders and partners. The choices made then are now being implemented but at the beginning of a catastrophic economic downturn it is unrealistic to believe that cuts of this magnitude can easily be replaced. Public sector support for culture and the arts is the foundation upon which further funds and philanthropy is built.

However, aside from the intangible case for funding culture it is worth labouring the point publicly that ‘arts pounds’ are real pounds and that they are spent in the local economy.

You don’t prune a tree by cutting at its roots.

The district area of South Lakeland where, long term, culture has been taken more seriously by the authority is a good comparison. In 2009/10 the local authority there made an investment of £171,000 in a number of well-established cultural charities such as the Lakeland Arts Trust, Grizedale Arts and the Brewery etc. In addition, South Lakeland has subscribed significant financial support to South Lakeland based company Kendal Arts International.

According to the Charity Commission, the combined turnover of South Lakeland’s arts charities in the same year was £6,382,448, and Kendal Arts International has received an offer of Arts Council funding of approximately £1m over three years from this year. This money is spent in and for the benefit of the local economy and local people. It is a phenomenal return on this district authority’s modest but, crucially, sustained investment.

As well as providing opportunities for thought, reflection and fun, it pays wages in the area and it contributes to the economic vitality of South Lakeland and its tourism offer. In the arts and heritage sector Eden District has no public and charitable infrastructure to act as a conduit for this kind of investment other than Eden Arts, a miniscule museum and the developing Lowther Castle project.

Whether in good times or bad I know that the authority must make choices about what it invests in and about what it does not, but be in no doubt that a cut of this magnitude represents the termination of significant opportunities for culture in Eden. It is wrong to claim that this is a necessity when funds can be found for other less worthy projects. This is the Council’s choice.

Although Eden is at the lower end of local authority investment in culture, the wider national picture is nonetheless very grim. In the year 2010/11 the government has cut millions from its direct funding of the arts and heritage sector but local authorities across the UK have cut a jaw-dropping £220m. Speaking of these cuts the Director of the Tate Gallery, Sir Nicholas Serota said: “You don’t prune a tree by cutting at its roots”. He is right about that, but perhaps wrong to feel that the intention was to prune! This is about choices and last week the government obscenely squandered a similar sum on totally unnecessary weekly rubbish collections. At a national level too this is all about choices.

Eden Arts may not survive long into the future but it is not the loser – it is a charity whose only purpose is to promote activities that are beneficial within Eden District and Cumbria. The losers are the people who would benefit from the offer it makes and the funding and projects it can bring our way. That’s us, we are the losers and this is the Council’s choice.

It needs to be challenged. If like me you believe that these cuts are a strategic mistake because it makes Eden District and Eden Arts less investable for others at a time when it has been punching above its weight, sign Eden Arts petition