Our "culture” is how we live, communicate and relax. We are proud to live in a vibrantly multi-cultural city. Arts and recreation are crucial to health and well being. We need a balance between formal provision and opportunities to create our own entertainment and recreation.Local control over what is provided or enabled is important. Leisure pursuits and voluntary work are often unacknowledged yet are the backbone of almost all cultural and recreational activity.

Arts are currently supported in terms of "industry" i.e. as a profit making activity. We large venues both for performing arts and recreation (e.g. theatres, concert halls, swimming pools and other sports facilities). Local facilities have suffered, the community arts budget has been scrapped and allotments have been neglected by the Council.