Wolverhampton Art Gallery could charge in council bid to claw back £134m

Finance bosses said they would try to attract exhibitions in a bid to 'up their game' and increase revenues.

They will release a plan later this summer on how to generate badly-needed funds in the wake of the latest budget figures.

Chiefs have yet to identify £46m of the new £134m needed, meaning more cuts and redundancies are on the way in the coming years.

And they will look to make money from venues across the city like the Civic Hall and the Grand Theatre.

They want to make their services more commercially viable and generate their own funds.

Leader Councillor Roger Lawrence said: "We are looking at all these opportunities like the Civic and the Grand.

"We'll also be looking at other areas and with some of those issues there will be costs.

"We have to recognise our cultural services are part of our commercial profile.

"They contribute very significantly to the offer of the city centre."

A restructure of the city's leisure centres - rebranded under the name of WV Active - recently took place with swimmers and gym users paying extra in some cases.

Plans are also being formulated to change the way Bantock House works after it was saved from closure last year.

Finance chief Councillor Andrew Johnson said: "We've set up a working party to see how we can generate more income.

"If we could attract some top flight exhibitions into Wolverhampton Art Gallery we could charge for them.

"We could get a great many visitors and increase the footfall into the city.

"It's these kind of areas we're looking at and we want to up our game in that respect."

The extra cash would help fill council coffers, which are reaching breaking point.

A vast amount of services have already been slashed, with libraries shut and having opening hours reduced and up to 30 youth clubs closed.

Charities and cultural centres have had budgets cut, council tax has gone up two per cent and the roads maintenance budget has dropped by £400,000.

The neighbourhood wardens service has also gone, saving £480,000.

But 1,200 of 2,000 axed jobs have still to be identified.

Government cutbacks have been blamed for the savage cuts, with Councillor Lawrence saying Wolverhampton residents are losing £150 a head.

The council is also £293m in debt and saddled with interest payments of £27,000 a day.