Issue - meetings

Museums partnership Silverdale Hoard

Meeting: 28/05/2013 - Cabinet (Item 7)

7 Museums Partnership Silverdale Hoard PDF 103 KB

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Sands)

Report of the Head of Health & Housing

Minutes:

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Sands)

Cabinet received a report from the Head of Health & Housing to update Members on the position in relation to any potential purchase of the Silverdale Hoard.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

	Option 1 Lancaster City Council purchases the hoard alone (subject to referral on to Council)	Option 2 Request that Lancashire County Council purchases the hoard alone.	Option 3 Partnership purchase (subject to referral on to Council)
Advantages	The District Council area in which the hoard was found Demonstrates commitment to cultural heritage and economic growth.	The County Council area in which the hoard was found Demonstrates commitment to cultural heritage. More straight forward process for acquisition, display and funding applications. No financial commitment required by the City Council.	Spreads the financial burden of the purchase across the two Councils.

Disadvantages	Considerable investment required in order to display on a permanent basis with reliance on external funding meeting these costs. Longer term commitments would need further investment over and above the initial Museum Acquisition Funding	Potentially less influence over where the collection is exhibited.	Requires formal agreement and clear understanding by both parties about how shared ownership will work in practice. Reliance on external funding to meet one-off purchase, re-display and conservation costs.
Risk	There is a realistic risk with this option that associated one-off purchase funds will not be generated. Risk increases with ongoing costs associated with conservation and temporary / permanent displays.	Minimal risk to City Council.	Risk to City Council remains as per option one.

The most important issue was that this was an excellent opportunity to retain the Hoard in Lancashire. County council officers initially informally recommended that Lancaster City Council purchase the Silverdale Hoard for their City Museum collections. However, given both short and longer term financial commitments and the uncertainty of the success of funding applications and fundraising efforts, the situation had changed. The council would be facing difficult choices given the financial outlook for 2014/15 and beyond and therefore the best option might be for Lancashire County Council to look to purchase the hoard alone. There is, of course, a risk that the county council would decide not to purchase the hoard when considered against their priorities. This led to consideration of the options.

The officer preferred option was option 2. The uncertain short and long term costs associated with purchase, conservation and display meant a purchase by the city council alone was unaffordable based on current budgets and forecasts. Option 2 allowed for County to proceed with the purchase, should they decide to, thus enabling the hoard to be kept and displayed within Lancashire including display at Museums in Lancaster in the future.

The purchase of the hoard by County Council would enable it to remain within Lancashire and ensured the potential for future display within Lancaster’s museums. The report acknowledged the importance of retaining the hoard in ... view the full minutes text for item 7