After months of help and guidance by St Edmundsbury staff and Cabinet members a deadline has been given to a steering group looking to reopen the Manor House as a museum.
The steering group has submitted several business plans over the past months, each with different income and expenditure figures but all showing a funding gap - the difference between what they can raise and what they say they need to run the venture. Now they are being given until 7 June to come up with proof that they will not need the borough's residents to fund their scheme through Council Tax.
Cllr Paul Farmer, Cabinet member responsible for arts and culture, said:
"Right from the very beginning, when the full council took the decision to close the Manor House as a museum, I was keen that we should work with anyone who believed they could keep the museum open and still deliver the savings and heritage service improvements we had identified for our Council Tax payers. Many hours of staff and councillor time have gone into helping the group, including a meeting of the Charity Bank - an organisation which specialises in this type of funding. Despite all this it seems there is still a large gap in the group's finances - a gap that should not be filled by the borough's Council Tax payers. We have made it crystal clear from the start that this is not an option."
A new business plan was given to St Edmundsbury by the group earlier this week. Apart from a shortfall in income of £30,000 in the first year (£47,000 over 3 years) there was also no allowance for the £65,000 a year in interest Council Tax payers would receive from the sale of the building. Although the council's financial officers will be looking in more detail at the figures, it also appears that some of the financial assumptions made by the steering group are also incorrect.
Cllr Nigel Aitkens, the Cabinet member who led the Heritage Services Review which identified the £212,000 savings for Council Tax payers, plus major improvements in heritage services overall for the whole borough, said:
"I find it disappointing that despite all our efforts, and the message we have been giving right from the start about our priority always being our Council Tax payers, that the steering group still expects residents to subsidise their scheme by around £100,000 in the first year. We put the group in touch with the Charity Bank, which has huge experience in this field, and understand that the group received the message loud and clear that they need to demonstrate clearly that they have financial support other than from this council. This business plan does not demonstrate that."
A letter has been sent to the steering group thanking them for the latest business plan and stating that after six months it is felt reasonable to ask for final proof within the next two weeks of a viable and deliverable proposal that can work without subsidies from Council Tax payers. If insufficient proof is received by 7 June St Edmundsbury will continue with the plans agreed by the full council in December.
These plans involve major improvements to WestStowAnglo-SaxonVillage and CountryPark, including a purpose-built storage and study centre which would make the collections not on display at any one time accessible to students and researchers. They also involve improvements at Moyse's Hall, giving it more of a Bury St Edmunds focus. As well as these improvements the review identified savings of £212,0000.
ENDS
ISSUED BY MARIANNE HULLAND, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757034. marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk.
