Latest news on the future of the Museum

For those new visitors to our website, you may or may not be aware that the future of this Museum is in some jeopardy at the moment.

When we opened in 1992 this was under agreement with the City Council that the commercial rent of £43,750pa would be paid on our behalf by City Museums to the City as they own these premises.  In return we were required to open a minimum of 100 days each year, normally equating to every weekend.  This we have easily achieved but with City Museums' own budgets suffering cuts they are no longer in a position to afford to cover the rent, with effect from the beginning of 2009.  We, also, are not in a position to meet this figure.

While we had indications of what was likely to take place a few months prior to this date, serious discussions with City Planning and Regeneration did not take place until June of 2009 at which point we were offered ongoing rental figures in line with the previous arrangement.  A further 2 months elapsed before a further meeting as we had informed the City that we could only proceed on the basis of obtaining security of tenure of the premises.  Without that we have been unable to access significant funding streams in the past, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund.  This second meeting therefore now offered potential terms of either a 25 year lease, but on a significantly increased rent, possibly initially phased in over a five year period and a figure to purchase outright.

Subsequently, we have had a separate valuation produced by a well-known local firm and while this indicates a rental at the existing figure, the figure for outright purchase is little more than a third of the figure quoted to us by the City.  However, possible sources of funding from HLF and Advantage West Midlands would not be available for this purpose, but purchase remains our preferred option.

We await, mid-November 2009, a further date to meet with City officials which is likely to be in early December.  At this stage we have been informed that there are no other potential purchasers 'in the wings', that our site is included in the Aston Area Action Plan recently produced by the City.  We are shown as a preferred option to remain as a Museum but the adjacent Villa coach park might possibly be used for a small housing development.  We have also been talking to Aston Villa F.C. who are fully aware of our situation and with whom we have built up a good working relationship.

The outcome of all of this remains a serious possibility that the Museum will be forced to shut its doors, possibly early in the New Year.  If we are able to come to some realistic agreement with the City with a view to purchase, then it may well be that we will make a public appeal for funds.  At this stage we are making our friends aware of how things are progressing and we will add updates here whenever there are any developments. If you wish to comment, or give us your support in any way, please leave a message in our guestbook, which can be found on our home page.

Produced 16.11.2009