SIR - I'm very pleased to see from Cllr Beckett's letter that the city council is still backing the Tower Arts Centre.

Ten years ago, when I was vice-chair of what was then Winchester City Council's Leisure and Arts Committee, the Tower was one of six Hampshire centres to receive a specific funding package from Southern Arts over several years, to stabilise its finances and assure its future.

Now Southern Arts, like all the other regional arts boards, has been rolled up into Arts Council England, but if the Tower was of regional importance then, surely it still is? Does Arts Council England know what HCC is proposing?

The multi-purpose space between the Theatre Royal and the erstwhile library looked like a good idea - the studio theatre and rehearsal space the Theatre should have had in its own revamp, perhaps - but if Hampshire had made it clear that part of the price for the Discovery Centre was to dump this well-established and popular arts centre, perhaps the public appraisal would have been more critical.

Similarly, Winchester has been very well served over the last 10 years or so by the Arts and Heritage lotteries. It might be that the lottery boards look less favourably on the county in future if Hampshire cannot be relied upon to support those establishments entrusted to it.

Judith Martin, Romsey Road, Winchester.