:00:02. > :00:05.to more than �1 million. The Quantum Leap in Shrewsbury was
:00:05. > :00:07.unveiled two years ago to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth
:00:07. > :00:10.there of Charles Darwin. Today Shropshire Council revealed it's
:00:10. > :00:13.lost a legal battle with the contractors which has more than
:00:13. > :00:16.doubled the cost, making it more expensive than the Angel of the
:00:16. > :00:25.North and landing council tax payers with a huge bill. Here's our
:00:25. > :00:28.It's been likened to human vertebrae and a dinosaur's skeleton.
:00:28. > :00:33.But the cost of the so-called Quantum Leap in Shrewsbury has
:00:33. > :00:35.quite simply jumped higher than anyone expected. Least of all
:00:35. > :00:38.Shropshire Council, which inherited the delays and spiralling costs
:00:38. > :00:47.from the former Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council when
:00:47. > :00:49.Shropshire became a unitary authority. Unfortunately it make
:00:49. > :00:54.impact on some of the capital projects around the county and that
:00:54. > :00:58.will impact on our residents. The good thing however is it will not
:00:58. > :01:07.affect frontline services. If we had �1 million at the start, we
:01:07. > :01:13.could have had a very famous British sculptor and nothing the
:01:13. > :01:16.people would then accept it. The famous sculptor Anthony Gormley
:01:16. > :01:25.was responsible for the Angel of the North statue. That cost
:01:25. > :01:30.�800,000, much of it Lottery-funded. And �200,000 less than Quantum Leap.
:01:30. > :01:34.I would rather it be given to charity. I think it is nice. Waste
:01:34. > :01:37.of resources. Better spent on the NHS, I think.
:01:37. > :01:40.The original budget was �483,000, the council paying �200,000, the
:01:40. > :01:42.rest coming from grants. But the council bill has risen by another
:01:42. > :01:45.�410,000, plus legal costs of �115,000, bringing the grand total
:01:45. > :01:55.to more than �1 million. All at a time when Shropshire Council is
:01:55. > :02:00.
:02:00. > :02:03.The sculpture was to mark the bicentenary of Charles Darwin. He
:02:04. > :02:09.was born here. A man at the helm of a charity dedicated to the
:02:09. > :02:15.naturalist and geologist likes the sculpture. I am pleased the town
:02:15. > :02:19.did it. But the amount it cost, are you still pleased? I don't think I
:02:19. > :02:23.can comment, it has cost what his has cost. You can name a figure and
:02:23. > :02:26.he would still have the same debate. Each of these concrete ribs weighs
:02:26. > :02:31.3 tonnes and one of the problems during construction was that they
:02:31. > :02:37.had to be realigned to complete the arch. The contractors Alun
:02:37. > :02:45.Griffiths from Abergavenny declined our request for an interview. A
:02:45. > :02:48.statue of Darwin already exists here. Who knows what he would have
:02:48. > :02:51.made of the row surrounding Quantum Leap. Love it or hate it, the
:02:51. > :03:01.debate about how much it cost will be discussed by councillors next
:03:01. > :03:04.week. So Quantum Leap has divided opinion.
:03:04. > :03:07.But what about public works of art elsewhere around the region?
:03:07. > :03:17.Whether they're donated, paid for by business or from the public
:03:17. > :03:21.purse, Joan Cummins has been Every town and city in our region
:03:21. > :03:25.has got public works of art but are they worth the money? Waste of
:03:25. > :03:27.money. He should go to the NHS. A focal point for tourists, the
:03:27. > :03:33.River Goddess otherwise known as the "Floozy In The Jacuzzi"
:03:33. > :03:38.presides over a range of opinions in Birmingham city centre. We need
:03:38. > :03:42.to express ourselves and have fun with it. I don't know what it means
:03:42. > :03:51.and why it is there but it looks good. By Frederick one is at the
:03:51. > :03:55.Bullring, the barn. That is like a statue -- my favourite one.
:03:55. > :03:58.Art can be devisisve though. In 2003, Birmingham Forward was
:03:58. > :04:01.destroyed by arsonists and a scuplture of Lady Diana in Walsall
:04:01. > :04:04.caused so much controversy that its black veneer was removed and it was
:04:04. > :04:08.totally revamped. In Stoke on Trent they've taken a different approach
:04:08. > :04:10.to the art and built a ramp to get up close and personal with a city
:04:10. > :04:20.father, Josiah Wedgwood. Lady Godiva knows her place in a
:04:20. > :04:24.revamped city centre is guaranteed and has a place in everyones hearts.
:04:24. > :04:34.I love Lady Godiva, but I think there is an awful lot of public
:04:34. > :04:37.money going down the drains. Some of it is a bit of a pointless thing.
:04:37. > :04:45.Sometimes there really is just one way to say exactly how much you
:04:45. > :04:48.We're joined now by artist Tim Tolkien who's famous for creating
:04:48. > :04:53.the Sentinel Spitfire sculpture in Castle Bromwich and also a statue
:04:53. > :05:00.in honour of Cardinal Newman. He joins us from his studio in the
:05:00. > :05:03.Black Country. Good evening. When everyone's cutting back so much, is
:05:03. > :05:13.it understandable that there's anger that �1 million of taxpayers'
:05:13. > :05:16.
:05:16. > :05:19.money has been spent on the Quantum Leap? The funding matter is a
:05:19. > :05:27.difficult subject. A lot of problems appear to be to do with
:05:27. > :05:31.contractors which is out of the hands of the artist or even could
:05:31. > :05:36.not have been conceived at the start. We hear time and again, arc
:05:36. > :05:42.plaudits come over budget. You are obviously very passionate about art
:05:42. > :05:46.but tell us about why it is not such a luxury, why do we need it?
:05:46. > :05:54.think good quality public at which has been devised properly, it gives
:05:54. > :05:59.people a sense of pride and place and certainly the way I try to work
:05:59. > :06:06.is to work with the community so it will be with the people who want it.
:06:06. > :06:09.It should have a sense of belonging. We know that people were saying
:06:09. > :06:16.that these are tough economic times. How his business for you bearing
:06:16. > :06:21.up? At the moment, the product I am working on which is keeping me busy,
:06:21. > :06:24.the money committed to that was committed over the past couple of
:06:24. > :06:30.years so now people are not committing money so the next couple
:06:31. > :06:36.of years it will be a bit tight but we will have to see. Were the
:06:36. > :06:39.products are publicly funded or privately, I hope that which will
:06:39. > :06:44.still be able for people to enjoy it in the future. We mentioned a
:06:44. > :06:51.few minutes ago that you created the Cardinal John Newman statue,
:06:51. > :06:59.there was a funding problem with that. How is that going? To fit in
:06:59. > :07:03.with what you're talking about, but has been picked up by the
:07:03. > :07:11.Birmingham City Council Heritage Department to a technically belongs
:07:11. > :07:14.to the Museum and Art Gallery. The initial hopes to make it publicly
:07:14. > :07:18.subscribed as a piece of work, it did not raise enough money, the
:07:18. > :07:26.sculpture was already made by that point. Gratitude labelled for
:07:26. > :07:30.joining us. The -- thank you for joining us.
:07:30. > :07:33.So what do you think about public art, such as Quantum Leap? Is it
:07:33. > :07:36.worth the money or is it too expensive at a time when public
:07:36. > :07:40.finances are being cut? We'd love to hear your thoughts. You can e-
:07:40. > :07:42.mail us or give us a call. Later in the programme, are things
:07:42. > :07:45.looking up for dairy farmers after years when things looked decidedly
:07:45. > :07:53.sour? A former Labour health minister
:07:53. > :07:56.apologised today for what happened at Stafford Hospital. Giving
:07:56. > :07:59.evidence to the Francis Inquiry into the failings there, Ben
:07:59. > :08:02.Bradshaw said he had no idea how bad the problems had become. He
:08:02. > :08:07.also said ministers felt powerless to act because they'd given a lot
:08:07. > :08:10.of their power away to independent watchdogs. Our health correspondent,
:08:10. > :08:20.Michele Paduano, joins us now from Stafford. To what extent did
:08:20. > :08:20.
:08:20. > :08:24.ministers feel they weren't able to control what was going on?
:08:24. > :08:27.Bradshaw was Minister of Health between 2007 and 2009 when the
:08:27. > :08:31.catastrophe at Stafford Hospital was taking place and he was in
:08:31. > :08:35.control of key areas but he said he was kept in the dark about those
:08:35. > :08:39.areas. What was more interesting was what happened afterwards. After
:08:39. > :08:43.the problems occurred, they tried to do things but the independent
:08:43. > :08:46.watchdogs had the powers. For example, they wanted to take the
:08:46. > :08:51.hospital back into full NHS ownership but they were not able to.
:08:51. > :08:55.I asked about this but he refused twice but only made this statement.
:08:55. > :09:00.I am desperately sorry for what happened here in the local hospital
:09:00. > :09:03.for the families that suffered in there, relatives. I still feel
:09:04. > :09:08.strongly from the time I spent in the department from the evidence I
:09:08. > :09:12.have heard at this inquiry that this was fundamentally a case of
:09:12. > :09:18.chronic local management failure. That does not mean that lessons are
:09:18. > :09:24.not to be learned by the rest of the system. So why were ministers
:09:24. > :09:31.prevented from sacking the chief executive? The former chief
:09:31. > :09:39.executive Martin Yates clearly lied about what was going on what was
:09:39. > :09:42.going on,... Ben Bradshaw said that the Minister of State -- Secretary
:09:42. > :09:52.of State Alan Johnson was furious and said I rarely saw Alan Johnson
:09:52. > :09:53.
:09:53. > :09:58.There was more discussion about the number of people who died, what can
:09:58. > :10:04.you tell us about that? Even the health care commission originally
:10:04. > :10:07.thought original there was 100 per when they got the figure of between
:10:07. > :10:11.400-1,200, Ben Bradshaw wanted that figure published but they have had
:10:11. > :10:14.a round table discussions and decided the figure was not robust
:10:14. > :10:17.enough and took the decision that we would never know how many people
:10:17. > :10:20.died at Stafford Hospital. Thank you.
:10:20. > :10:27.A cul-de-sac in a desirable area might sound like a nice place to
:10:27. > :10:31.live. But residents in one such street say their lives are being
:10:31. > :10:34.made a misery by 200 lorries a day heading past their homes to a
:10:35. > :10:36.quarry. They want a new access road to be built to take away what they
:10:37. > :10:39.say is traffic nightmare, as Bob Hockenhull reports.
:10:40. > :10:48.7:25am and the lorries start coming down Branton Hill Lane in Aldridge
:10:48. > :10:51.near Walsall. And they keep on coming... And coming and coming. We
:10:51. > :10:58.counted nearly 40 in an hour. Residents here say there's often
:10:58. > :11:02.200 a day. The noise and the dust are the worse things, and it is not
:11:02. > :11:05.safe. We have not got a pavement on one side of the road.
:11:05. > :11:08.The cul-de-sac is the only access to this quarry. The quarry was
:11:08. > :11:11.established in 1944 to extract sand to rebuild houses destroyed in the
:11:11. > :11:14.Blitz. But since 2000 the number of lorries has risen seven-fold as the
:11:14. > :11:24.site, which has been the subject of two public inquiries, is now also
:11:24. > :11:25.
:11:25. > :11:33.involved in recycling rubble. Even the inspectors said that it is no
:11:33. > :11:40.exaggeration to say the residents have suffered, it has been reduced
:11:40. > :11:42.to a state of despair. The situation is still the same.
:11:42. > :11:45.The inspector granted outline planning permission for a new
:11:45. > :11:48.access road across greenbelt land and away from the houses. The
:11:48. > :11:54.site's owner says he's ready to build it, but has spent the last
:11:54. > :11:58.three years negotiating with planners. We have got everything we
:11:58. > :12:01.need, we are ready to roll. would you feel if you lived on the
:12:01. > :12:07.road? It certainly wouldn't be something I would be very happy
:12:07. > :12:09.with. I can fully understand their frustration and I sympathise with
:12:10. > :12:16.them. Councillors are due to discuss the
:12:16. > :12:20.alternative route next month. will go to the planning committee
:12:20. > :12:22.for a decision, and we are hopeful that will go through and we will do
:12:22. > :12:25.everything we can do to make sure it happens.
:12:25. > :12:28.If the plans are approved, residents say they'll throw a
:12:28. > :12:33.street party, but in the meantime they'll have to carry on sharing
:12:33. > :12:37.their road with lorry after lorry. Parents, teachers and pupils at a
:12:37. > :12:39.school in Shropshire have lost their battle to keep it open.
:12:39. > :12:42.Shropshire Council today voted to close the Wakeman School in
:12:42. > :12:50.Shrewsbury, saying it was no longer viable because of falling pupil
:12:50. > :12:53.numbers. Pupils created a mock crime scene at the Shire Hall,
:12:53. > :13:01.where the plan was rubber stamped, claiming the decision was
:13:01. > :13:07."criminal". We said to the Wakeman School it was in your hands. Come
:13:07. > :13:11.forward with a viable situation, we do not want to be closing schools
:13:11. > :13:15.but unfortunately school or the community or the governors did not
:13:15. > :13:17.come forward with a sustainable alternative to the proposals.
:13:17. > :13:25.A Black Country MP is demanding urgent action to reverse the
:13:25. > :13:28.mounting number of empty shops. New figures show that nearly a third of
:13:28. > :13:31.shops in Dudley are vacant, compared with a national average of
:13:31. > :13:35.one in seven. Ian Austin, the MP for Dudley North, is calling for
:13:35. > :13:36.the town centre to be smartened up to help attract new stores and
:13:36. > :13:39.fresh ideas. It's one of the biggest
:13:39. > :13:42.regeneration projects in the UK. Rising from the ashes of the
:13:42. > :13:45.collapsed car maker MG Rover is a new Longbridge town centre. The
:13:45. > :13:53.latest milestone is the completion of the new Bournville College,
:13:53. > :13:55.which has cost almost �70 million to build. Students are now
:13:55. > :13:57.enrolling for courses, while there's plenty of activity
:13:57. > :14:01.elsewhere on the site, as our business correspondent Peter
:14:01. > :14:03.Plisner has been finding out. It may look a bit weird, but this
:14:03. > :14:05.modern building promises to shape the future of higher education in
:14:05. > :14:15.South Birmingham. Inside it's spacious, bright and students
:14:15. > :14:16.
:14:16. > :14:23.enrolling today seem to love it. is brilliant compared to the old
:14:23. > :14:27.college. I am very impressed. College is rubbish compared to this.
:14:27. > :14:33.For the man in charge of the new college, it's the end of six long
:14:33. > :14:37.years of planning. We think this will demonstrate what it is about
:14:37. > :14:40.in Birmingham. But Bournville collage is only part
:14:40. > :14:47.of the Longbridge regeneration story. Developer St Modwen, despite
:14:47. > :14:51.the recession, is gearing up for even more construction. You have
:14:51. > :14:58.got to get the heart back into Longbridge. The reason for people
:14:58. > :15:01.to come here and to invest here. And encouraging that means more
:15:01. > :15:03.regeneration. Soon they'll start work on a new �70 million retail
:15:03. > :15:10.development which will also house a new hotel. Elsewhere there's more
:15:10. > :15:14.space for living with the construction of scores of new homes.
:15:14. > :15:19.This is another part of the site yet to be developed, the engines
:15:19. > :15:23.used for at MG Rovers used to be made here, now 700 houses are
:15:23. > :15:29.planned to be made here. It's all great news according to
:15:29. > :15:33.the local vicar who also used to be the chaplin at the MG Rover factory.
:15:33. > :15:37.We always knew it would be done cautiously but to see things
:15:37. > :15:39.physically changing shape and people need to use these things and
:15:39. > :15:42.it is inspiring. Despite the recession, millions of
:15:42. > :15:52.pound is still being spent here, ultimately that should help to
:15:52. > :15:52.
:15:52. > :15:55.create thousands of new jobs. The very striking indeed.
:15:55. > :16:03.Still to come this evening, Shefali looks a few days ahead, could we
:16:03. > :16:11.see a repeat of Monday night's wild weather over the weekend? Keep
:16:11. > :16:14.watching to find out. After a tough few years, are things
:16:14. > :16:17.looking up for the dairy industry? Farmers attending the Dairy Event
:16:17. > :16:20.at the NEC today say milk prices have edged up towards a sustainable
:16:20. > :16:23.level. But the news comes as it emerges an earlier attempt to pay
:16:23. > :16:25.farmers a fair price led to a court case and multi-million pound fines
:16:25. > :16:28.for supermarkets and dairies. Here's our environment
:16:28. > :16:32.correspondent, David Gregory. Thousands of farmers, and plenty of
:16:32. > :16:40.cattle of course, are expected to visit the NEC in Birmingham for the
:16:40. > :16:46.135th Dairy Event. And it seems things may be looking up. The
:16:46. > :16:55.crushingly low milk prices of recent years appear to be gone.
:16:55. > :16:59.general P people are on a bit of a high. They are starting to see the
:16:59. > :17:03.costs now and it works with farmers' lobbying people and
:17:03. > :17:05.getting in touch with people who are sat behind those desks, drawing
:17:06. > :17:09.up contracts and deciding what they will pay us.
:17:09. > :17:15.But trying to increase the amount of the milk price farmers get has
:17:15. > :17:21.landed some household names in court. An attempt to pay farmers
:17:21. > :17:23.more at ended with an Office of Fair Trading investigation and
:17:23. > :17:26.multi-million-pound fines for companies.
:17:26. > :17:35.Dairy Crest was fined �7 million and Wiseman's, �3 million. Tesco is
:17:35. > :17:38.contesting their �10 million fine at the moment. Everything is seen
:17:38. > :17:42.as interests of the consumer but the difficulty is if you lose the
:17:42. > :17:46.primary producer, that is not in the interest of the consumer so it
:17:46. > :17:52.is a balance that is important. But now the picture appears rosier
:17:52. > :17:57.with prices rising naturally. Farmers at a big event like this
:17:57. > :18:02.tend to be commercially savvy and sensitive, but it is a sign that
:18:02. > :18:06.there are better signs ahead for the industry.
:18:06. > :18:08.The everyday story of country folk, that phrase has a ring to it. But
:18:08. > :18:11.we're not talking about the Archers. No, two Herefordshire communities
:18:11. > :18:15.have now become the inspiration for a couple of dramas on the radio.
:18:15. > :18:18.For the past 12 months, the Rural Media Company has been working with
:18:18. > :18:24.people in Ewyas Harold and Kington. Our arts reporter, Satnam Rana, has
:18:24. > :18:27.been meeting some of the characters involved.
:18:27. > :18:30.The market town of Kington is home to 2,500 people. 70 of whom have
:18:30. > :18:40.helped bring local stories to life on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play
:18:40. > :18:41.
:18:41. > :18:44.slot which is accompanied by a film. Later that evening, everybody
:18:44. > :18:47.danced under those stars. "Man In Wheelbarrow" has been
:18:47. > :18:56.inspired by Dick, the local street cleaner and school caretaker who
:18:56. > :19:00.gathered stories and appears in the play himself. We always enjoyed
:19:00. > :19:03.stories in the small town and there are so many of them and they are so
:19:03. > :19:06.joyful mainly, and they go on for years.
:19:06. > :19:09.It's all the brainchild of the Rural Media Company in Hereford
:19:09. > :19:16.which has been working on the project for the last year along
:19:16. > :19:21.with the BBC Radio Drama and Arts Council England. We like to work
:19:21. > :19:23.alongside rural communities to give people chances to explore their
:19:23. > :19:26.history is and open it to a wider world.
:19:26. > :19:29.27 miles south in the village of Ewyas Harold, Graeme Sprackling, a
:19:29. > :19:39.mobile librariran for 30 years, is the main inspiration for tomorrow's
:19:39. > :19:49.play, "The Fearless Librarian Saves The Day". He retied 20 years ago. -
:19:49. > :19:55.
:19:55. > :20:02.- retired. I am along comes Rural Media Company and almost at and I
:20:02. > :20:06.am having to relive everything back on a mobile library. It is all the
:20:06. > :20:10.talk of the village. It has put us on the map a little bit and it is
:20:10. > :20:16.lovely to hear stories from the local community. Lots of lovely
:20:16. > :20:21.places to see. The legacy of this product means the younger people in
:20:21. > :20:25.these communities are now engaged in film-making and for the older
:20:25. > :20:28.generation who have taken part in this project, they have been
:20:28. > :20:34.introduced to modern media techniques. It just goes to show
:20:34. > :20:38.that art is thriving in rural communities.
:20:38. > :20:41.And you can tune into the second radio play on BBC Radio Hereford
:20:41. > :20:50.and Worcester tomorrow at 2:15pm and you can find out more about The
:20:50. > :21:00.Marches project on our Facebook The cricket season is boiling up to
:21:00. > :21:03.
:21:03. > :21:05.an exciting finish. I always feel sad in September. With only two
:21:05. > :21:08.games left, Warwickshire are fighting hard to win the County
:21:08. > :21:11.Championship. Ian Westwood hit a century as they piled up the runs
:21:11. > :21:21.against Notts. And at the opposite end of the table, Worcestershire
:21:21. > :21:24.are battling to avoid relegation. Worcestershire have two games left
:21:24. > :21:30.to preserve their status. Everything had gone pear-shaped in
:21:30. > :21:35.June, they lost the first six games, rock bottom of the table and looked
:21:35. > :21:40.doomed to treat relegation. Water transformation and one man has done
:21:40. > :21:46.more to give them a fighting chance of staying up. Alan Richardson.
:21:46. > :21:49.Alan Richardson is Worcestershire's most experienced player. He played
:21:49. > :21:55.for Derbyshire and Warwickshire before arriving here from Middlesex.
:21:55. > :22:00.He is enjoying his cricket more than ever at 36. He is the loudest
:22:00. > :22:04.out in the pack and in the dressing room and he has got an enthusiasm
:22:04. > :22:09.which is something for playing cricket. He had taken 62 wickets
:22:09. > :22:13.but he did not long to make that 63 wickets and that is why he is so
:22:13. > :22:16.popular with the Worcestershire men's. He has come to a nice County
:22:16. > :22:21.and I think he enjoys his cricket. He cheers the players up a.
:22:21. > :22:26.shows that there is always a place for experience and he has done very
:22:26. > :22:32.well. Seems to be a good team player as well. A good morning for
:22:32. > :22:36.Worcestershire, Sussex were left on 25 for two. But the cricket
:22:37. > :22:42.commentators came out for their lunch when the players went in.
:22:42. > :22:48.This man has followed the every ball. It is a tough time for county
:22:48. > :22:53.cricket and Worcestershire have done well with the squad they have
:22:53. > :22:57.done well. Steve Rose told us that if he keeps Worcestershire up this
:22:57. > :23:02.season, it will be his single biggest achievement in his career.
:23:02. > :23:12.Worcestershire are fighting for their lives, and Worcestershire
:23:12. > :23:19.will... The file falling to Alan We are delighted to see him doing
:23:20. > :23:29.so well. Warwickshire closed on 235 for 3. In Westwood court 134 not
:23:30. > :23:31.
:23:31. > :23:39.It will be working its way up in the temperatures but feeling
:23:39. > :23:42.autumnal. We are still seeing this rather intense area of low pressure
:23:42. > :23:48.moving in from the West and at the rain is as bad as the winds, it
:23:48. > :23:52.could be quite a nasty weekend. Outbreaks of rain rather than
:23:52. > :24:02.persistent foe. Tonight is like that as well. We have got rain
:24:02. > :24:02.
:24:02. > :24:07.moving in from the West and it is run the western parts of the region
:24:07. > :24:11.that we will see rain moving towards the east as well. We have
:24:11. > :24:15.got a lot of cloud so once again, quite a warm night and it seems as
:24:15. > :24:19.if the night are better than the days in terms of temperatures.
:24:19. > :24:22.During the morning tomorrow, this band of showers and rain retreats
:24:22. > :24:26.to the west and then it springs back again during the afternoon and
:24:26. > :24:30.that will form a more organised band of rain through tomorrow
:24:30. > :24:34.evening and also tomorrow night. We will see that in a moment but
:24:34. > :24:38.temperatures rising to 19 Celsius and breaks in the cloud where we
:24:38. > :24:44.could see highs of 20 cells is but a warmer day than today because
:24:44. > :24:49.through tonight and tomorrow, the winds will be easing. The rain
:24:49. > :24:52.starts to form a more organised band and news from the south west
:24:52. > :24:57.to the north-east say could be a wet night tonight before Friday
:24:57. > :25:07.itself, the rain is out of the way and mainly dry, grey but also warm
:25:07. > :25:09.
:25:09. > :25:13.and the winds are picking up as we A look at tight's headlines.
:25:13. > :25:15.Economists say the 50p tax rate is doing long lasting damage to the
:25:15. > :25:25.economy of. And the price tag for a
:25:25. > :25:27.
:25:27. > :25:30.controversial sculpture soars past �1 million. Lot of e-mails as well.
:25:30. > :25:33.Paul Williams emailed in to say he's very much into the arts yet he
:25:33. > :25:36.doesn't think that such a large amount of money should be spent on
:25:36. > :25:39.maintaining a sculpture in a time when arts funding is being cut.
:25:39. > :25:42.Meanwhile, Fiona Smith from Telford asks, in this day and age when
:25:42. > :25:45.community groups, local charities and other worthwhile projects are
:25:45. > :25:55.struggling to keep going how on earth can such a project be
:25:55. > :25:57.
:25:57. > :26:07.justified? Karen got in touch and says councils should come and raise
:26:07. > :26:10.
:26:10. > :26:14.Martin got in touch from Newport in Shropshire and called to say that
:26:14. > :26:18.the expense of these public projects is absolutely ridiculous,
:26:18. > :26:22.particularly when we are in a time of austerity. And Jackie from
:26:22. > :26:26.Dudley says I think if it is probably that art needs to be paid