Stafford's Shire Hall Gallery is saved - for now
Council chiefs will re-think plans to axe the art gallery at Shire Hall after failing to reveal the costs of moving out of the historic site.
Stafford County Council's cabinet voted in favour of pulling its arts services out of the Grade II listed building last month, shortly after the University of Wolverhampton announced it was leaving the site.
But the county council's Labour group had the decision – aimed at saving £118,000 in 2017/18 – called in for extra scrutiny, saying the decision had been made 'prematurely' and with no proper costings having been done.
The gallery is located in the great hall and includes an exhibition space, a crafts shop and a historic courtroom. But it was highlighted that the potential for redundancies and any costs arising from the move was not made clear.
Concerns have also been raised over the relocation of the multi-sensory room at Shire Hall, which was visited by 77,000 people last year.
It was expected the full-time equivalent of 3.75 staff would be made redundant out of 4.75.
A letter penned by Councillor Sheree Peaple said: "The decision seems to be prematurely made and should be postponed until the concerns below have been properly addressed. There are no firm plans for where the multi sensory room is to be relocated.
"It was advised that a five year loan to cover redundancies would be taken out, but no precise details of costs were provided. I am concerned that the Council is burdening itself with long term loans without proper scrutiny of the actual costs involved.
"It was advised the current offer is to be replaced by 'pop up' exhibitions. The Committee was assured that the cost of such exhibitions in terms of storage, insurance and transportation of artefacts, and staff time to manage such exhibitions, had been factored into the arts service budget but again no detailed costings were produced."
The leading Conservative group has now accepted the concerns and will amend the plans resubmitting them after Christmas.
Gill Heath, cabinet member for Communities and the Environment, said: "This is all part and parcel of the scrutiny and we will provide the committee with more detail about the arts service proposals."
