Newbury's Watermill Theatre is given backing of West Berkshire Council

Newbury's Watermill Theatre has got West Berkshire Council's shoulder behind it to fight for more funding.

Newbury MP Laura Farris has already leant her support to the theatre following the shock announcement that Arts Council England have withdrawn its annual funding.

The council last night (Thursday) agreed to lobby other MPs in the area, including Alok Sharma and John Redwood to pressure the Arts Council to change its mind.

The motion was put by Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West), who said: "We are very fortunate to have the Watermill in our district. They produced a version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd that ended up just off Broadway.

"That's the quality of theatre we have here. It has been impacted badly by the Arts Council decision. This should not be a political football. We all want this facility to do well."

Leader of the council, Lynne Doherty (Con, Speen), added: "We are so lucky to have this venue.

"There are things we can do. We can support them by going. If you haven't been then it's a really unique experience. The panto is on... so take the grandchildren.

"A 14 per cent funding cut is a huge amount for them to recover. We can all agree this is the right thing for us to be doing."

When the funding cut was announed, Mrs Farris said: “I am extremely disappointed that Arts Council England has refused funding to this local jewel of a theatre, despite its exceptional creative offering, and value to our local community.

"I’ve been working closely with Michelle Donelan [Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] and am hoping in the coming days we can ask them to urgently reconsider their priorities and recognise that rural theatres of this quality are exceptionally rare and just as deserving as theatres in the North of England.”