Art for the people or another still life?

The Lottery money will help to pay for community events and almost certainly lead to a permanent work of public art to adorn the area.

Mind you, the town's Tories are a touch upset. They want the council to be chasing more worthwhile cash pots that will help to make pensioners' lives more comfortable, or get a grip on anti-social behaviour.

I think they're missing the point by having a go at the ruling Labour group though. The council's entitled to go for the money if it's there.

The one's who need to be questioned and taken to task are a bit higher up the political food chain.

Because they are the very people who make the money available for local authorities to have parties in parks, or build monstrously ugly sculptures in town centres.

Yet elsewhere, local authorities are being denied cash for seemingly more worthwhile projects.

And it's not just local authorities.

The North West Air Ambulance service, a charity which saves lives on a weekly basis, is struggling to raise the cash it needs to operate.

It requires about £900,000 a year so it can scramble helicopters to emergency scenes. That wasn't much of a problem until recently, when the service had a massive chunk of its funding cut.

I know it's a bit of a simplification to say we should be ensuring the survival of a lifesaving service before throwing money at community arts. Blackburn Council didn't get the money directly at the Air Ambulance's expense.

But that doesn't mean we should not seriously question how money is doled out from the top. Because when you do simplify it, it looks a bit wrong.

How can a lifesaving charity be forced to scrimp and save, when a local council is getting a big heap of money to pay for 'artists in residence' to fingerpaint a mural on a community centre wall with a bunch of local brats?

Yes, we need to have a serious rethink. There are thousands of worthwhile causes all applying for numerous grant streams, competing with each other for a slice of giant cash pie and invariably losing out to perhaps less important projects.

It seems to me that the main problem is that there are about eight million chefs in charge of the pie. All of them in London too. Instead of having just a handful of groups responsible for dividing up the cash, there are hundreds of them.

Even the National Lottery grant-making bodies have more arms than a big bucket of octopi, all vying for a bit of money to hand out to worthy causes.

Sadly, for all my bleating, this situation is unlikely to change.

So perhaps the best thing the Air Ambulance can do is apply for money to get a professional graffiti artists to paint its helicopters -- and keep a bit of cash back on the sly for a defibrillator.

BLACKBURN with Darwen Council is pleased with itself this week for landing a £500,000 cash boost.

The Lottery money will help to pay for community events and almost certainly lead to a permanent work of public art to adorn the area.

Mind you, the town's Tories are a touch upset. They want the council to be chasing more worthwhile cash pots that will help to make pensioners' lives more comfortable, or get a grip on anti-social behaviour.

I think they're missing the point by having a go at the ruling Labour group though. The council's entitled to go for the money if it's there.

The ones who need to be questioned and taken to task are a bit higher up the political food chain.

Because they are the very people who make the money available for local authorities to have parties in parks, or build monstrously ugly sculptures in town centres.

Yet elsewhere, local authorities are being denied cash for seemingly more worthwhile projects.

And it's not just local authorities.

The North West Air Ambulance service, a charity which saves lives on a weekly basis, is struggling to raise the cash it needs to operate.

It requires about £900,000 a year so it can scramble helicopters to emergency scenes. That wasn't much of a problem until recently, when the service had a massive chunk of its funding cut.

I know it's a bit of a simplification to say we should be ensuring the survival of a lifesaving service before throwing money at community arts. Blackburn Council didn't get the money directly at the Air Ambulance's expense.

But that doesn't mean we should not seriously question how money is doled out from the top. Because when you do simplify it, it looks a bit wrong.

How can a lifesaving charity be forced to scrimp and save, when a local council is getting a big heap of money to pay for 'artists in residence' to fingerpaint a mural on a community centre wall with a bunch of local brats?

Yes, we need to have a serious rethink. There are thousands of worthwhile causes all applying for numerous grant streams, competing with each other for a slice of giant cash pie and invariably losing out to perhaps less important projects.

It seems to me that the main problem is that there are about eight million chefs in charge of the pie. All of them in London too. Instead of having just a handful of groups responsible for dividing up the cash, there are hundreds of them.

Even the National Lottery grant-making bodies have more arms than a big bucket of octopi, all vying for a bit of money to hand out to worthy causes.

Sadly, for all my bleating, this situation is unlikely to change.

So perhaps the best thing the Air Ambulance can do is apply for money to get a professional graffiti artists to paint its helicopters -- and keep a bit of cash back on the sly for a defibrillator.