FRESH calls are being made to sell off some of Southampton’s art collection to fund some of £3m work needed in two key art projects.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, councillors have needed to find an extra £1.95m to finish the arts complex that is hoped will be the centrepiece of the city’s cultural scene.

And work costing an estimated £1m is needed to fix the roof of the city’s Art Gallery in a major repair project.

Now some councillors are calling for some of the city’s largely-hidden £150m art collection to be sold off to fund the work.

The arts complex is set to open next year and feature a theatre, gallery, auditoria and bars and restaurants while creating more than 300 jobs, but it was revealed last week that there was a £1.95m shortfall in project costs.

The council said the extra money needed to fit-out the complex was required because building costs such as skilled labour had risen since the original £23m budget, funded by the council and other organisations, was drawn up.

At a meeting of the council yesterday council leader Simon Letts said the issue of rising costs was a “common issue in the South East”, saying “we are faced with a decision of either finding the money to make this happen or leaving the building dark and empty and given that stark choice I think the administration would have to go for option A”.

Both the council’s Conservative group and Independent anti-cuts councillors supported finding the cash to finish the project, although some fears had been raised that it could impact on frontline services.

Conservative group leader Jeremy Moulton said selling art work – an idea raised several times in the past nine years, including once by Cllr Letts two years ago – could have raised funds to go towards the project but said his party would support giving the council’s financial officer the task of finding the extra cash.

The council has resisted several calls to sell some of the 3,700-piece collection to fund improvement works, saying it is legally unable to and could face sanctions from arts organisations if it did so.

The council’s finance chief Mark Chaloner told the Daily Echo afterwards that it was likely the money would come from two sources – the capital programme budget which funds, among other things, roads and improvements to council buildings, or borrowing.

At the meeting it was also revealed that the Art Gallery requires major repair work for issues including leaks and cracks in its structure, with a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund being considered to fund some of the work.

Tory resources spokesman John Hannides said he did not suggest selling art work to fund work on the arts complex because it would not have been able to be done in time to allow the complex to open on time.

But he has said that some of the work at the gallery should be funded by sales, saying: “The arts gallery will require more than £1m and possibly nearer £2m and it makes perfect sense to use the proceeds from the sales to fund the arts gallery.

“It is becoming more indefensible to say we cannot sell pieces from the collection.

“This would make more money available for frontline services, so money that the council doesn’t need to borrow to support arts and culture in the city will not be taken away from frontline services.”