| Topic: | Re:Proposed closure of Wandsworth Museum | |
| Posted by: | Malcolm Grimston | |
| Date/Time: | 08/01/07 23:24:00 |
| Wandsworth Town is the only one of the five town centres in the Borough without a major library. The site which is most likely be suitable is the old Court House on Garratt Lane, which presently hosts the Museum. So, how do we go about providing a facility like Putney Library for the folks of Wandsworth Town, given that the Government has cut £5 million from our grant this year and prevents us by law from putting the Council Tax up by more than a pittance (not that we would want to if we could avoid it)? Answer - the Museum at present is not a well used facility - in fact every visit there costs the Council taxpayer around £10. So we intend to look at the possibility of creating a new library in the building (or moving existing facilities there) and putting a space aside within for some of the present museum exhibits. It's a complex proposal and we will need to do a lot of consultation and calculation to see if it will work. Clearly we'd need to reduce the Museum's activities in the building if we were to go ahead. But as anyone who has visited the great museums in South Kensington recently will know, static exhibitions are very much a thing of the past. So we are also looking into the possibility of creating a new web-based museum to widen access to the best exhibits. It is always tempting to stand still and ignore changes in the way society works, but frankly it has never been the Wandsworth way. There are always opportunities to provide a better service and if we can do so at a lower cost then so much the better. MALCOLM GRIMSTON Cabinet Member, Environment & Leisure |