Link4Life, the trust running Rochdale’s arts and heritage service, is proposing to make up to 10 posts in the service redundant and close Touchstones Rochdale on Sundays and Mondays.
Museums Journal understands that the trust plans to delete the post of cultural inclusion officer and merge the posts of museum officer and collections manager.
A source close to the museum said staff morale was low, with many on the verge of resigning or looking for new jobs.
“The trust’s proposal would mean that the museum would only be able to carry out basic maintenance of its permanent displays and basic collections management,” said the source at Rochdale. “There is a huge collections backlog. There are more than 150,000 objects, most of which are not catalogued, and once the staff are gone, [the trust] won’t know anything about this stuff.
“Staff have got no faith that the trust is going to bring in the right people to manage the collections.”
Craig McAteer, the managing director of Link4Life, said: “Link4Life will contribute £921,700 of efficiency savings in 2011-12, as part of an overall Rochdale Borough Council target of £50m. Of this, £264,000 has been identified from our arts and heritage services, with the rest coming mainly from sports and leisure facilities.
“The proposals that have gone forward will now be considered alongside other options in a formal period of consultation. This consultation comes to an end towards the end of November and until then, no final decisions will be made.”
The trust declined to comment on the detail of the cuts, which constitute about a quarter of the £1.23m 2010-11 budget for the arts and heritage service.
Emma Anderson, hub manager at Renaissance North West, said: “Rochdale’s collections are of international importance, and the staff are excellent and very committed. We are anxious about any erosion of that.”
Link4Life was set up in April 2007 to provide cultural services for Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council under a 15-year partnership agreement. Rochdale’s arts and heritage service has two main venues: Touchstones Rochdale and the Arts & Heritage Resource Centre.
