The pressure on funding has led the Art Fund to write to a number of local authorities where it considers access to Art Fund-assisted objects in museum collections may be reduced in breach of grant fund conditions. Sally Wrampling, the Art Fund's head of public affairs, confirmed that the organisation has written to Derby County Council, St Edmundsbury County Council and Lancashire County Council.
As previously reported, St Edmundsbury County Council is to close its Manor House Museum (Museums Journal January 2006, p5), while Derby is restricting the opening of the Pickford House Museum to booked parties only.
Now Scarborough is planning to close Wood End, its natural history museum, to redevelop the site as a cultural industries centre. A spokeswoman for the council said the closure was because 'the museum is not able to compete with more modern museums and visitor attractions'. The existing collections will go into storage and staff will be redeployed.
Eden District Council was keeping tight-lipped about plans to close the Penrith Museum and relocate the collections to Rheged, the nearby, privately-run discovery centre. Peter Simpson, the acting secretary of the Friends of Penrith Museum, said: 'The idea of taking the museum collection out of town, and away from the people of Penrith and giving it to a commercial venture is very, very worrying.'
In the London Borough of Newham, the council is to close the North Woolwich Old Station Museum, while plans to turn the Old Dispensary in Stratford into a new museum have been shelved.
Sean Sherman, the heritage services manager for Newham, said: 'The whole service is under review, and all staff are being looked at as a part of that.' The council was reviewing proposals for a new museum, he added, which it hoped would be located within the Olympic complex.
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council is looking to make £60,000 of cuts to the operating budget of Touchstones, which houses a museum, art gallery, local studies centre, heritage gallery and education service.
Meanwhile, in North Hertfordshire, the council is planning to close the Hitchin Museum and the Letchworth Museum and build a new town centre museum to house the collections. Ros Allwood, the cultural services manager at North Hertfordshire County Council, said there would be 'absolutely no redundancies'. The council will make a decision this summer as to whether or not the plans will go ahead.
Finally, Lancashire County Council, after announcing last month that it wanted to close the Fleetwood Museum to meet savings of £100,000, has bowed to extensive lobbying and agreed to fund the museum for one more year at a cost of £79,000, but will be reducing costs and is considering trust status.
Stephen Riley, the director of maritime heritage at the National Maritime Museum, said: 'We are concerned that there is no indication of long-term plans for Fleetwood's nationally important collections.'
Patrick Steel
As previously reported, St Edmundsbury County Council is to close its Manor House Museum (Museums Journal January 2006, p5), while Derby is restricting the opening of the Pickford House Museum to booked parties only.
Now Scarborough is planning to close Wood End, its natural history museum, to redevelop the site as a cultural industries centre. A spokeswoman for the council said the closure was because 'the museum is not able to compete with more modern museums and visitor attractions'. The existing collections will go into storage and staff will be redeployed.
Eden District Council was keeping tight-lipped about plans to close the Penrith Museum and relocate the collections to Rheged, the nearby, privately-run discovery centre. Peter Simpson, the acting secretary of the Friends of Penrith Museum, said: 'The idea of taking the museum collection out of town, and away from the people of Penrith and giving it to a commercial venture is very, very worrying.'
In the London Borough of Newham, the council is to close the North Woolwich Old Station Museum, while plans to turn the Old Dispensary in Stratford into a new museum have been shelved.
Sean Sherman, the heritage services manager for Newham, said: 'The whole service is under review, and all staff are being looked at as a part of that.' The council was reviewing proposals for a new museum, he added, which it hoped would be located within the Olympic complex.
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council is looking to make £60,000 of cuts to the operating budget of Touchstones, which houses a museum, art gallery, local studies centre, heritage gallery and education service.
Meanwhile, in North Hertfordshire, the council is planning to close the Hitchin Museum and the Letchworth Museum and build a new town centre museum to house the collections. Ros Allwood, the cultural services manager at North Hertfordshire County Council, said there would be 'absolutely no redundancies'. The council will make a decision this summer as to whether or not the plans will go ahead.
Finally, Lancashire County Council, after announcing last month that it wanted to close the Fleetwood Museum to meet savings of £100,000, has bowed to extensive lobbying and agreed to fund the museum for one more year at a cost of £79,000, but will be reducing costs and is considering trust status.
Stephen Riley, the director of maritime heritage at the National Maritime Museum, said: 'We are concerned that there is no indication of long-term plans for Fleetwood's nationally important collections.'
Patrick Steel
