Make A Big, Bold Bet' Invest In Millennium-Style Culture Projects, Urges Economist

Now is the time to "invest, and invest big" in radical millennium-style arts and culture projects, a top economist has urged before the government's first budget on Wednesday.

- Robyn Vinter

Andy Haldane, the chief executive of the Royal Society for Arts and former chief economist at the Bank of England, said the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, needs to urgently fund projects that "make lives liveable" to help rebuild deprived parts of the country.

This should include making a "big, bold bet" similar to that made by the previous Labour government in the run-up to the year 2000 when it set up the Millennium Commission, providing £2bn of National Lottery funding to dozens of arts and culture institutions.

Examples include the Eden Project in Cornwall, the Wales Millennium Centre, The Deep aquarium in Hull, Glasgow Science Centre and the Millennium Dome, which is now the O2 Arena.

Many were built on brownfield sites, particularly in areas with high levels of deprivation, which in some cases then led to a dramatic economic transformation of the area.