In fact many people are having to think carefully before getting into their cars - getting to and from work is the number one priority. Social and recreational car journeys are being sacrificed and those on limited disposable incomes are travelling less. The AA noted that car journeys were down by 20% in January of this year compared to the same period in 2011.

The Arts are being driven still further out of villages and smaller communities in Somerset by drastic cuts to local authority arts funding, which currently works out at 50p per head (less than a Mars Bar). Also out of the £475,000 investment the Somerset local authorities have made to the arts this year, £450,000 is going to the two theatres in Taunton and Yeovil, towns with a combined population of 150,000 people. That means the remaining £25,000 local authority arts spend is being allocated to the rest of the county, approximately 350,000 people - so 95% of the money for arts is going to only 30% of the Somerset population.

It is understandable that the two main theatres should receive considerable support from the local authorities and that along with being a wonderful resource for residents, they also attract patrons from outside the towns. However, as local authority funding gets tighter and arts budgets are reduced further a one dimensional consolidation of funds into two building based organisations is too clunky a solution. It means that the majority of council tax payers are excluded from access to a cultural offer.

In short as fuel prices go up, arts access goes down.

Ralph Lister

Executive Director of Take Art