Agenda item

Report DRR15/046

In February 2015 officers had recommended, in the context of the need to make budget savings, that the Bromley Museum be relocated to the Central Library and the Priory building be disposed of on the open market. Since then, at the request of the Portfolio Holder for Renewal and Recreation, officers had investigated the future of the Museum and the Priory and held discussions with residents and interested parties. Although heritage and arts were highly valued by residents, it was accepted that the current museum standard was weak, and a new approach to provision of a local museum was needed with significantly reduced revenue costs.

Relocating the Museum to the Central Library still offered the best solution for an improved and sustainable Museum that would be in a position to attract more visitors, and officers were exploring different options for a pool of trained staff to be available to assist with particular school visits, or for trained volunteers to assist in running the exhibits. 

The future of the Priory was a separate issue which was still being considered. The building had been declared an asset of community value and various Council and community group based options were being investigated. 

The report had been scrutinised by the Executive and Resources PDS Committee on 3^rd June. The Committee had supported the recommendations with some small changes to include reference to disposal of a leasehold interest, to delete reference to the cost of the proposed relocation being funded from capital receipts to avoid any impression that the move depended on sale of the Priory and to make the capital and revenue funding decisions up to £395k and up to £15k.

In addition, PDS Members had supported a resolution calling for the Executive to decide to offer the Lubbock Collection back to the family. Councillor Nicholas Bennett, the Council’s Heritage and Design Champion, argued that the artefacts in the Lubbock Collection had no link to the borough other than that Sir John Lubbock had lived in the borough. He felt that as display space at the Central Library would be limited it should be focussed instead on exhibits more directly related to the history of Bromley. The Leader stated that he would be happy to consider the future of the Lubbock collection further once the new exhibitions were in place and their success had been measured. The Executive members felt that there was scope for the new Museum to include both the Lubbock Collection and space for local history. 

RESOLVED that

(1) The cessation of the museum service at the Priory, Orpington, and the provision of new museum exhibitions at the Central Library, Bromley, managed by Local Studies and Archives, be agreed.

(2) The Priory be declared surplus to operational requirements with effect from 1^st October 2015 and, subject to further work by Strategic Property Services on other Council uses for the building, authority is given to offer the property for sale or disposal of a leasehold interest on the open market.

(3) The outcome of the staff consultation be noted and the proposal to cease the museum service be endorsed.

(4) The allocation of up to £395k for the relocation of exhibitions, the addition of  the scheme to the capital programme, and the allocation of up to £15k per annum revenue to Local Studies and Archives to commission temporary exhibitions and care for the collection be approved. 

(5) The proposal from the Executive and Resources PDS Committee to offer the Lubbock Collection back to the Lubbock family is not supported.