Pickles advises councils to lease unused art

Councils should lease out art that is not on display in order to make money, says Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles.  A document on local authority budgeting endorsed by the Secretary of State, entitled ‘50 ways to save’, claims  “Many councils own art galleries and museums and have extensive collections which never see the light of day, but merely gather dust in storage.” But Mark Taylor, Director of the Museums Association, has accused Pickles of ill-informed ideas and “peddling tired old clichés about dusty stores.” He has challenged the Secretary of State to explain where the market is for leasing works of art from local authority museums. Local Authority funding was cut by a further 2% in last year’s Autumn Statement, further to the 28% cut overall being implemented over the course of the current Spending Review.