Arts curator job ‘shows HS2 living in cloud cuckoo land’

THE company behind the High Speed 2 rail link is recruiting an “arts curator” to help place public art along the route, prompting accusations it is being “cavalier” with taxpayers’ money.

The HS2 job advert follows the revelation that one in four staff at the government-owned firm is on a six-figure pay deal.

The Treasury warned Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, about HS2’S wage bill in the spring. As many as 318 officials were on remuneration packages worth at least £100,000 last year, up from 155 in 2015/16. Critics said the use of taxpayers’ money to potentially fund Hs2-linked artwork was “completely unjustifiable”.

The arts curator job is a part-time post and offers a “competitive” salary of up to £35,340 with applicants tasked with managing an “innovative and high quality programme of new commissions, both temporary and permanent, for key sites” along the route.

The job advert calls for candidates to have a “proven track record of curating a variety of arts and/or cultural projects, preferably within the public realm” and to have “experience of commissioning permanent and temporary public art”.

Philip Davies, the Tory MP, said: “It’s completely unjustifiable. I think it is an illustration of the cavalier way that they consider public funds.

“They are in cloud cuckoo land. They need to get a grip on spending, not wasting it on vanity projects.”

An HS2 Ltd spokesman said: “HS2 is

‘It’s completely unjustifiable. They need to get a grip on spending, not wasting it on vanity projects’

ensuring that its design leaves a positive legacy along the line of route, and the part-time arts curator role we are recruiting will seek to engage with communities to ensure that our designs benefit their local areas.”

The spokesman said HS2 Ltd was “committed to controlling costs and take our responsibility to taxpayers money very seriously”.

The Government said it was “keeping a tough grip on costs and the HS2 project remains on budget”.