CAB129-37 — Page 580

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FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN. 1951

As I told the House in the Debate on the

27th October, the projects originally proposed by the Council of the Festival of Britain, 1951, would have involved a cost to the Exchequer of about £14 million. I had to insist on this figure being reduced, and after discussion by the Festival Council in July cuts were made which reduced the total to 12, 300,000. Since then a further cut of £1 million has been imposed, as announced by the Prime Minister in his statement on 24th October, giving a final gross total of £11,300,000, which includes a margin for contingencies. Against this, revenue is estimated at 82 million, without taking account of receipts for the disposal of assets, giving a not expenditure, in round figures, of €9 million spread over this and the two coming financial years. Substantial economies have been made in various ancillary services to the Festival exhibitions, but the final figure of £11.3 million has not been reached without some curtailment of the programme which had been envisaged. The various exhibition projects will, however, go forward broadly as planned and there will be no reduction in the indus- trial content of the South Bank and Glasgow Exhibitions. I am satisfied that with enterprise, ingenuity and care the Festival organisation will be able to put on a first-rate effort for the money available.

Of the gross expenditure, £10,035,000 will fall on the vote of the Festival of Britain Office, and 3585,000 on that of the Ministry of Transport. The balance is made up by expenditure on account of the Festival by the Arts Council of Great Britain (8380,000), the Council of Industrial Design (£285,000), and the British Film Institute (£15,000) •

The principal item of expenditure by the Festival of Britain Office will, of course, be the main 1951 Exhibition on the South Bank, which is estimated at £6 million. This sum will cover expenditure on site work, the construction and equipment of buildings, exhibition displays, operating and maintenance costs and all other services.

The other principal items in the estimato are £450,000 for the Science Exhibition at South Kensington, €380,000 for the Exhibition of Heavy Engineering at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, £240,000 for the "Live" Architecture Exhibition at Poplar, and £850,000 for the two Travelling Exhibitions which will be visiting fourteen centres in the United Kingdom. The remainder of the expenditure will be in respect of various supplementary services necessary to the success of these exhibitions, and also, of course, the salaries and overheads of the Festival Headquarters.

The Government will make loans to Festival Gardens Ltd., which will construct and operate the Pleasure Gardens in Battersea Park. As the House is aware, the total outlay has been estimated at £770,000, and the Festival Office and the London County Council will advance the sums required in the ratio of 60: 40, with a limit to the loan by the London County Council of $200,000. The total of 311.3 million, however, only includes a figure of £60,000 in respect of the FestivaPage 58ef1097ch is an estimate of Page 58001097 Government might have to bear.

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