MANIC Street Preachers bassist and Newport resident Nicky Wire has spoken of his frustration over cuts to culture in the city and across Wales.

Writing in the NME, he attacked the “wholesale hammering and demolition of culture” in the city, and said the demolition of the Chartist mural, the axing of Newport art gallery’s temporary exhibitions programme and the closure of the Welsh Music Foundation (WMF) are unprecedented.

He wrote: “I live in Newport and in the last few years I’ve never seen such a wholesale hammering and demolition of culture.

“Culture, art and music – these are actually things Wales is really good at and they are being destroyed.”

The WMF closed on July 1 after a three-year core-funding agreement with the Welsh Government expired and no other alternative income stream could be found.

And Newport council demolished the Chartist mural last October at part of the Friars Walk shopping centre development. Council leader Cllr Bob Bright later apologised on behalf of the council.

But a commission of three people, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, are part of a council-appointed panel to find a replacement for it and to decide on commemorations for the 175th anniversary celebrations of the Chartist Rising.