Andy Burnham urged to act on ‘escalating crisis’ facing glass heritage

Museums celebrating Britain’s glassmaking heritage are “on their knees” and urgently need government investment, the prime minister has been warned in an open letter.

Penned by Alexander Goodger, the director of Stourbridge Glass Museum, the letter to Andy Burnham highlights an “escalating crisis” facing the nation’s glass heritage, which has left the sector “fragmented, unsupported and on its knees”.

The new branch of Downing Street in Manchester – Number 10 North – was launched by Burnham to help shift power from Whitehall and Westminster to the regions. But Goodger says: “If Number 10 North is genuinely committed to rebalancing investment outside London and supporting post‑industrial areas, then glass heritage is a clear and urgent test case.”

The recent wildfires in Stourbridge and their impact on public transport have exasperated the museum’s already difficult financial situation, added Goodger. It doesn’t receive any funding from local or central government and faced bankruptcy in 2023 during the gas crisis.

Elsewhere, St Helens World of Glass recently launched an emergency crowdfunding appeal and the National Glass Centre in Sunderland permanently closed in July due to the high cost of urgently needed repairs to its building.

“If these three museums received just 1% of the £453m [of public funding] allocated to London’s national museums, it would be transformational,” the letter states. “It would secure our futures, create skilled jobs, reduce unemployment, and bring international tourists into towns that desperately need economic renewal.

“Visitors stay in local hotels, eat in local restaurants, and spend money on high streets that have been hollowed out for decades, filled with vape shops and drug fronts, which I know you have spoken against.”

Goodger says that many regional communities feel neglected and abandoned politically, which is driving the rise of Reform voters. “People are voting for change because they no longer believe national government is investing in them,” he says. “If Labour wants to rebuild trust in these areas, it must demonstrate visibly and materially that investment is coming.”

The letter invites Burnham to visit Stourbridge to discuss the issues in more depth.

Climate action

In another recent statement, which followed the wildfire that destroyed 19 homes in Stourbridge earlier this month, Goodger called for climate adaptation to be treated as an urgent priority for the entire museum sector.

He said soaring energy costs were contributing to the crisis facing glass heritage, and that museums large and small could not survive under “old energy models”.

Goodger urged sector funding bodies to make the climate crisis their top priority.

“Right now, climate action is still treated as one priority among many, optional rather than essential, and secondary to traditional cultural themes,” he said.

“Given the scale of the crisis, this is no longer tenable. Funders must move beyond positive language and make climate action, especially climate education, the primary criterion for cultural investment.”