Museums and golf courses in front line of city council cuts

The moves being discussed by a behind-closed-doors meeting of Hull Council's Liberal Democrat Cabinet today would see opening hours of the city's museums and Ferens art gallery reduced, with most staff becoming part-timers and more volunteers used.

Rather than opening seven hours a day Monday to Saturday, hours would be reduced depending on the season, to six in the summer and four in the winter.

Officers recommend this option over an alternative, which would see museums and the gallery closed two days a week.

Changes outlined in papers seen by the Yorkshire Post could also see the council's two loss-making golf courses, Sutton Park to the east of the city and Springhead, to the west, run by private operators. The council would remain the landowner, but grounds maintenance and facilities management would be handed over to the new partner.

One of the reports warns that industrial action could result from the reduction in museum staff hours and loss of pay.

Officers also anticipate resistance from staff and unions over using more volunteers – but say the already widespread use of volunteers has "begun to erode this argument".

The document states that the La Loggia cafe "may no longer be viable within the proposed frameworks" and could be put to a commercial use instead.

The authority says the financial position of the 18-hole courses is unsustainable, as 1m worth of work, including drainage, is needed to bring them up to scratch.

A "soft marketing" exercise earlier this year showed at least two companies were interested in taking on the facilities.

The report said: "The cost of routine maintenance and repair works is increasing year on year, as the standard of the clubhouses, course landscaping, drainage and irrigation systems are in need of major capital investment. Necessary improvements to drainage are estimated at around 200,000 per course."

There is also increasing competition from private golf courses, of which there are 12 within a 10-mile radius of Hull city centre.

City council leader Carl Minns said the options they were looking at were seeking to keep facilities open "in very tough financial times".

Coun Minns said it would not be known until the beginning of next month what the Government's final grant settlement would be, but city council officials were looking at cuts of between 40m and 50m.

He said: "I have said consistently that my overriding priority is to keep services to the public open and try to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies and that's what this paper is designed to avoid."

Asked to comment, Labour councillor Phil Webster said he was "totally opposed" to the changes to the museums service, which he said would make it an easy target for future cuts.

He said: "It's a slippery slope; if you start reducing the hours I think the long-term viability gets called into question."

Coun Webster said he believed the council could have to make as much as 80m savings over four years: "That money has to be found somewhere. I do believe the museums quarter is an easy touch.

"They are not ruling anything out; they are not ruling anything in and this really, really concerns me."

If the changes to the museums service go ahead as set out in the report opening times would be reduced to five hours from Monday to Saturday, with three hours on Sunday; six hours Monday to Saturday in summer; four-and-a- half hours (Mon to Sat) and three hours on Sundays; and just four hours Monday to Saturday in winter and three hours on Sundays.