| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Proposed closure of Wandsworth Museum | |
| Posted by: | Jonathan Callaway | |
| Date/Time: | 09/01/07 22:41:00 |
| Dear Mr Grimston I have read all your comments on this thread with great interest. Of course it is clear there are budget problems and difficult decisions have to be made, but I do have a number of concerns about the approach taken by the Council: - on timing - did the WBC formally announce their plans to PutneySW15 or elsewhere and if so why is there nothing on the WBC website? Or was there a leak by people so concerned over your plans? - on costs - where does this £400,000 p.a. figure come from? This is the first time I have seen the figure. How is it broken down and how much is actual incremental cost to WBC over and above maintaining a building it already owns (for example)? I think it would be helpful for us to know this. Also, what are the costs associated with the other options you have floated, such as moving the library in there (is that really viable, with West Hill library so close by?) - on the size of the budget problem - how is the £5mn number calculated? You repeat it as if it is cast in stone but it is in fact your own estimate, based on your own view of inflation versus the government's, so how reliable is it, and are you going to make hard spending decisions on the basis of it, when the deficit, if that is what it is, might actually be lower? Or will you revisit the estimate to make sure it is actually right before making any decisions? - on the value of the Museum to the community - I would take issue with your statement that users are 'in effect being paid £10 each time they go there' - this is really not at all a helpful way to express the problem and 30,000 visitors a year is NOT a small number for our borough. This number includes many educational visits undertaken by school groups which surely there should be some way to support, if not to treat differently from a cost perspective (what would alternative local history teaching cost?) - you do appear to have made your mind up about the Museum even though you state that there will be consultation once formal proposals have been drawn up. Saying things like 'not a well used facility', 'static exhibitions are very much a thing of the past' and 'keeping it in its current shape ... is simply not an option' hardly conveys the impression of a council trying its best to find a way to keep this valuable educational amenity. Rather it conveys the impression of a council trying hard to find a way to get rid of it. I think you can count on the Putney Society putting up a spirited defence of this amenity which even our MP admits to have 'thoroughly enjoyed' visiting. Indeed, it is a well-run and well laid out museum with many unique artefacts on display, many donated by local residents. What will happen to all these if the musuem closes? Finally, a suggestion: if the council insists on closing the museum, might a way be found to combine it with the excellent Wandsworth Local History Service in Battersea? Or is that threatened too? I hope there will be a constructive debate on the future of the Museum and I hope we can all agree that trying to find a positive solution is the way forward, rather than the opposite. |