| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Proposed closure of Wandsworth Museum | |
| Posted by: | Lucille Grant | |
| Date/Time: | 01/03/07 09:01:00 |
| Jenni - this whole issue is not a grizzle about arts and heritage and I'm sorry if that's how you feel. It's really about the demise of culture and its valuable support for education in the Borough that so many of us are most concerned with and the fact that there has been no proper consultation prior to the decision being taken. £400,000 pa runnng costs are a drop in the ocean when you consider that the Council is planning to spend £4.4 MILLION on upgrading leisure centres including £2.7 MILLION on Barn Elms (which everyone thinks belongs to Richmond and isn't mentioned on the Wandsorth Council website listings of leisure centres!) Perhaps people who already pay to use leisure centres should 'privately fund in a public spirited way' their leisure and sports facilities? I certainly am happy to pay through my taxes for such facilities, which I don't use at all, but not at the expense of the fantastic educational facility that a local Museum of the stature of Wandsworth provides. There are other ways of cutting the £400,000 costs which the council have not investigated including varying opening hours, cutting back staff requirements etc. The council can very likely afford to keep the Museum in one location, even if it no longer situated at the Court House. What they actually want to do (in order to keep council tax at the lowest in the UK) is to sell off sites 'surplus to requirements' - these include Alvering and West Hill libraries and the Court House if/when it is deemed unsuitable to become a Town Centre library. In addition, I may be jumping the gun, but I wonder whether more libraries will close as a result of the Council's policy. I believe there are currently 12 in the borough inclduing Putney, Southfields and Roehampton. Perhaps Malcolm Grimston could reassure us that once his vision of FIVE town centre libraries is achieved, the other 7 libraries such as Roehampton (hardly a town centre) will not be lost to us? By the way have you visited the Museum yourself? Do you have children who have benefited from going there on a school visit? |