Jobs under threat as council seeks cash savings at museums

Calderdale Council runs four museums which attract around 102,000 visitors a year, including over 9,000 visits from school pupils.

Cuts have already been made this year which affected opening hours but further reductions are now being proposed.

Jobs will be affected by the latest proposals, which include closing the cafe at Shibden Hall, Halifax, which has been losing between £1,500 and £9,000 a year.

The cafe employs a supervisor working 30 hours a week and assistants.

Several options have been drawn up for the four museums, Bankfield, Shibden, Heptonstall and Smith Art Gallery.

One option is to close Bankfield on Sundays and Mondays and reduce opening by one hour per day. An alternative would be to close it on three weekdays.

Shibden could see reduced access in the winter when visitor numbers drop about 50 per cent.

Smith Art Gallery could close Monday-Wednesday or its daily opening hours could be cut by three.

The council is proposing to recruit volunteers to help run Smith Art Gallery and this could lead to increased opening hours.

There are no plans to cut opening hours at Heptonstall, although a reduction in winter caretaking could save cash.

The council’s Cabinet committee will discuss the plans on Monday next week.

A council report says: “These changes are expected to have a significant effect on contracted hours for the front of house members of staff, although the service will work to avoid redundancies by working with staff to look at more flexible contracts and offering opportunties for early retirement where relevant.”