Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE CULTURE AND FACILITIES SERVICE MANAGER AND PRINCIPAL ESTATES SURVEYOR

This report explores the current options with regards to solving or alleviating the storage pressures facing the museum collection of North Hertfordshire.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:

(1)   That Cabinet note the current projected costs, advantages and disadvantages of each option.

(2)   That Cabinet approve use of £30k of the allocated £4m budget in the current capital programme for this project to develop more detail on the costs of Option D (warehouse proposal) and to acquire the necessary details for a planning application to be made.

(3)   That Cabinet approve use of £20k of the allocated £4m budget in the current capital programme for this project to develop more detail on the costs of Option E (Purchase of a freehold/long leasehold building (new or existing)), should a suitable property become available.

(4)   That Cabinet consider and give approval for officers to apply for grant funding towards the investigations mentioned in 2.2 and 2.3 and recognise the need to align investigations with grant funding timetables in this instance.

(5)   That Cabinet resolve to discount options A, B and G and recommend that they are no longer developed or explored further.

(6)   That Cabinet indicates that Options C, F and H outlined within the report should be pursued further.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION:

(1)   Officers do not have the capacity or financial budget to progress all 8 options to an advanced stage and some early decisions are required in order to focus time and budget on pursuing the most advantageous options based on the best information available to officers and members at the present time.

(2)   In addition, the pursuit of greater detail on a number of the options will require expenditure on external reports and consultants which officers are seeking Cabinets approval to progress. Estimated figures are included in the main body of the report which can be found in Appendix 1 and are summarised in the Executive Summary Grid in Appendix 2.

Audio recording: 1 hour 47 minutes 21 seconds 

Councillor Tamsin Thomas, as Executive Member for Enterprise and Arts, presented the report entitled ‘Museum Storage Options Appraisal’ and advised that:

·       The purpose of this report was to showcase the range of options that have been explored to resolve the museum storage issues.

·       The primary objective of this report was to focus on the most viable options to put forward to Cabinet on 19 November 2024.

·       The museum service provided a continual historical record of this district and the collection had been accumulated over a few hundred years.

·       The collection continued to grow and there was not enough space in the current building for safe storage.

·       The current site at Bury Mead Road was not designed to be used for a long-term storage area and the building was past its life span.

·       A long-term solution was required to protect the heritage collection which would have been considered as part of the museum obtaining accreditation from the Arts Council, last awarded in 2019.

·       Accreditation by the Arts Council was a valuable status which allowed the museum to host exhibitions and this also allowed the museum to apply for project and capital-based grants.

·       This paper highlighted three shorter term options, A, B and C, which only addressed the current issues and provided solutions only in the shorter term.

·       It was therefore preferable to find a longer-term solution to protect the ever-growing fragile collection.

·       Option A was in the report to provide a baseline for comparison. Option B was a minimal solution to maintain commitments to the collection and option C provided this with the addition of some extra storage facilities.

·       Option D, E and H provided the clearest long-term solutions which were worth further explorations and costings.

·       Option F explored the possibility of a leasehold solution, but a leasehold property would not address the strategic long-term challenges faced and would not meet the eligibility criteria for the largest grant option for which Officers could submit an application.

·       Option G explored whether there was a suitable asset already within the ownership of the Council which could be utilised.

The following Councillors asked questions:

·       Councillor Tom Tyson

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

·       Councillor Laura Williams

·       Councillor Jon Clayden

·       Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

·       Councillor Donna Wright

In response to questions, the Culture and Facilities Service Manager advised that:

·       Option H had not been mentioned in recommendation 2.4 as the property was not owned by the Council and therefore it would be for a third party to continue to explore this option, and for Officers to maintain open lines of communication over such developments.

·       The allocation of £30k for option D, would be used to allow the Council to progress investigations up to the planning application stage of the warehouse proposal.

·       The allocation of £20k for option E, would only be used if a suitable property became available on the property market, eliminating the needing to seek approval before being able to explore suitability.

·       Option D involved redevelopment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53