One of the city’s most recognisable business figures has been appointed to the Arts Council board in the West Midlands – and says he is just relieved there is still an organisation to be appointed to.

Neil Maybury, city lawyer and chairman of Birmingham Focus, said he was pleased to see the Arts Council as a body was not on a leaked document listing 177-taxpayer funded quangos which are set to close.

Mr Maybury said it was too early to speculate on the extent of funding cutbacks for the arts ahead of the spending review this month but admitted they were inevitable.

“The Government is under huge pressure to deal effectively with cuts, it has got to be looked at strategically,” Mr Maybury said.

“However, what one can say is that one of the important principles of Arts Council funding is that people should enjoy an excellent arts experience and it should be available to all.

“In times of economic austerity, the ability for people to enjoy an arts experience in terms of a simple morale boost is very important, we have got to try and get through these very difficult times and the arts can help fulfil that objective – it is going to be very interesting to see how the Government approaches that.”

He added: “I was very interested when the opportunity came up join the board of the Arts Council West Midlands and was pleased to be appointed.

“The chairman is Peter Phillips, who is chairman of Birmingham Opera, and it’s a very interesting time to be joining the Arts Council.

“We are of course waiting to see what the CSR does with arts, although it was pleasing to see that one of the organisations that will be retained is the Arts Council – we wait with interest to see what the Government proposes in relation to our standing.

“There are inevitably going to be cuts, the question is how they are going to be implemented.”

Earlier this year Arts Council England revealed cuts of annual grants to cultural organisations in the region although these were less draconian than had been feared.

Among those hit hardest is the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which will see its funding cut by just over £41,000 to £8.2 million while the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) will also lose £80,000 as its 2010/11 funding is reduced to £16 million.

Regional organisations will lose a total of £243,000 from a £48.6 million combined annual budget.

Arts Council England’s own budget for the next three years (2011-14) will be decided in the Government’s spending review, the results of which are expected in the autumn.

Mr Maybury, who joins the board under newly-appointed chairman Peter Phillips, said his business background would help with managing budgets and dealing with difficult situations involving finances.

He is keen to see a Spitfire museum and permanent tennis exhibit in the city and would also like to see more exhibitions of paintings.

He added: “I would like to see more exhibitions of some of the fine arts that Birmingham has in store.

“It is a problem that most cities have – they have more memorabilia, artefacts, and paintings than they have the space for.

“I think in planning for the future we could make of The Pre-Raphaelite paintings we have, as well as a lot of the artefacts from the old Birmingham Science Museum which are still in store.”