Shropshire museums campaign calls for expert talks
Experts need to get around a table and talk about the future of museum services in Shropshire before further changes are made, according to campaigners who were taking a 1,000-signature petition before Shropshire Council today.
The petition against plans to axe three members of staff who look after world-renowned collections at Ludlow Museum Resource Centre was being presented to a full meeting of the council at Shirehall, sparking a 15-minute debate.
Campaigner and geology expert Professor Michael Rosenbaum said the petition was not simply about the centre in Ludlow, but about the future of museum services in the whole of the county.
He said campaigners would be urging the council to hold fire on more cuts and enter into talks with experts and volunteers across the region who could offer advice, ideas and volunteer manpower for the future.
But he said that so far the idea of setting up a museum trust for the county had stalled, with no interest shown in the idea by Shropshire Council as yet.
Lottie James, chairman of the Friends of Ludlow Museum, was set to present the petition at today's meeting, Professor Rosenbaum said, and campaigners are hoping it will convince the council to take a fresh look at Shropshire's museums.
He said: "We hope that first they put a break on the redundancy of staff at Ludlow Museum Resource Centre, and secondly that they engage with the expertise there is in the county to develop an appropriate museum service for the whole of the county.
"But if people are not going to be given the chance to get round a table then things won't happen. We want the council to at least hold fire long enough to do that – don't get rid of your staff before you've held discussions about what's going to happen."
Two of the three staff at the Ludlow centre have been given their redundancy notice and would be gone in six weeks, he said. The third has been given another six months.
