Top Yorkshire museums on closure hit list as cuts loom

Ian Blatchford said yesterday that one of either the National Railway Museum in York, the National Media Museum in Bradford or the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester “will shut” if further cuts are announced to culture funding in the spending review on June 26.

Mr Blatchford said work is already underway within his Science Museums Group – which also runs the Science Museum in London – to decide which of the three will close if the 10 per cent cut to his budget is confirmed.

Politicians in Bradford are fearing the worst, with one MP accusing bosses of “a nasty metropolitan snobbery” towards museums in the North - and warning the closure of the media museum would “kill the city stone dead”.

Meanwhile one of the country’s most eminent scientists said it was “completely inconceivable” that York’s railway museum could be allowed to close.

Mr Blatchford’s public announcement follows days of speculation about the future of the three museums as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) battles with the Treasury over its post-2015 budget.

DCMS insists the prospect of further cuts remains mere “speculation” ahead of Chancellor George Osborne’s speech, and that the issue was anyway an “operational matter” for the museums group.

But speaking at a press briefing in London yesterday morning, Mr Blatchford was unequivocal he has been told to expect a further 10 per cent cut in funding after 2015, on top of the 25 per cent cut the group has already suffered.

“If the cuts happen, three very bad things will happen,” he said.

“One of our regional museums will shut. The exhibition programme will be completely destroyed, and we’ll make massive cuts to education.”

The chief executive said a 10 per cent cut equated to £4m-a-year for the group, which is already facing a £2m annual budget deficit.

“At that level we really have to cut into flesh,” he said. “So we’re talking to all three great Northern cities that we are in... At the moment the risk of either very severe cuts or complete closure is a very, very real option.”

Mr Blatchford told the Yorkshire Post he was not prepared to simply cut budgets across all four museums, because he would “rather have a world-class operation than a second-class one.”

“It would be very easy to share cuts across the group, but what you end up with is that no-one wins,” he said.

He added: “A whole range of criteria was now being assessed as the group weighs up which museum should be shut down.”

“One is our impact in terms of the local economy; the science agenda,” he said.

“We’ve done some work, but the problem is it’s very difficult until we know what the real funding landscape is.”

He also ruled out charging admission fees to solve the crisis, highlighting the Coalition’s pledge to retain the free access to museums introduced by Labour.

“I don’t control my own destiny,” he said. “Government policy states very clearly that museums cannot charge.”

Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, expressed horror at the possibility of York losing its railway museum.

“Could you imagine in Britain not having a national museum for railways?” he said. “It is completely inconceivable. It is a symbol of our science and technology.”

York Central MP Hugh Bayley said he was “extremely concerned” for the museum.

“It is of vital importance to York’s position as one of the top tourist destinations in the UK,” he said. “The Government must stop and think.”

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, a former DCMS Minister, said losing the media museum “will kill Bradford stone dead.”

“We are trying to market ourselves as a city of culture and media,” he said. “This will kill us.”

Mr Sutcliffe said he suspected the Science Museums Group was using the spending review as a “ploy” to shut the museum down.

“They never liked the idea of it being in Bradford in the first place – we have been fighting a running battle,” he said.

“There is a nasty metropolitan snobbery about such a prestigious museum being out in the ‘provinces’.

“If those elements in the London Science Museum who believe the North to be a cultural wasteland think we’ll let go of our jewels easily, they are in for a nasty shock.”

Online campaigns and petitions were already up and running last night, calling for all three northern museums to be saved.

DCMS sources stressed Culture Secretary Maria Miller has not yet agreed departmental cuts with the Treasury and dismissed the 10 per cent figure as “speculation”.

A spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome of the spending review.

“This is an operational matter for the Science Museum Group, which has to address a large projected operating deficit from 2014 onwards, and is assessing a range of options to address this situation.”