Hi Sarah I do indeed hope that Waterman's take on board the criticism regarding the appearance and non appealing exterior as highlighted many times in the past. I was in the area yesterday and agree that it could certainly benefit from some local signposts as I would have thought that this would at least help a little in guiding visitors and possibly even reminding local residents of its existence. Anyway,a little more good news has come its way which is always welcome and here is the Hounslow Councils response in case you have missed it.Tue, 17 June 2008The London Borough of Hounslow has congratulated Watermans after it was successful in its legal challenge to the Arts Council.A judge has decided that the Arts Council had withdrawn funding from Watermans based upon different reasons than those originally given to the Brentford Arts Centre, and had offered it no opportunity to address those reasons.Watermans has always maintained that this was an unfair process and a clear breach of public law, and launched a campaign to fight it, which was backed by Hounslow Council - its key financial backer.Cllr Peter Thompson, leader of the London Borough of Hounslow, said: “This is a tremendous result for Watermans and I congratulate everyone who was involved in their campaign to challenge this decision. This is also very good news for people living in Brentford, and west London. We hope the Arts Council act decently and restore maximum funding.”Adding his own congratulations, Cllr Adrian Lee, the council’s lead for leisure and culture, said: "We welcome the court's decision and congratulate Watermans on a well-fought and well executed campaign. This is reassuring for everyone involved and we look forward to working with Watermans and helping it to progress and improve to become even better."Following the court’s notification, the Arts Council has asked Watermans to withdraw its legal action in return for a new funding recommendation being taken to the Arts Council’s next London regional council meeting.In a statement today, Karam Bhullar, chair of Watermans, said: “This decision is a very positive result for Watermans. The Arts Council has since offered to settle the matter out of court. We welcome this approach which will allow us to focus our time and resources on our arts programme.“At a time when Watermans is planning to play a significant role in the launch of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, we would not want these proceedings to cast a shadow over the programme for west London. Given the judge’s positive comments about our case, we hope that the Arts Council will now reinstate Watermans’ funding without further delay.”
Paul Fisher ● 6249d