South Bank Board Threatens Resignation Over Funding Row Date: 15 December 1997
The South Bank Centre s Board of Governors has threatened to resign due to escalation of a funding row with Culture Secretary Chris Smith. The Arts Council last week approved the £131m glass canopy to encase the Centre's Royal Festival Hall, Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. Smith, however, stalled the plans with his negative response on Friday to the project which would need £70m of lottery money instead of the £50m originally allocated. Publishing multi-millionaire Paul Hamlyn has already pledged £17m for the project, but on the condition that the lottery funds the rest and that the site is renamed the Paul Hamlyn Centre. The South Bank board claim that the refurbished Centre, to include a bustling area of shops and restaurants, will attract nine million visitors a year and an extra annual income of £10m, alleviating the Centre's ongoing dependency on public subsidy.
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