Sale could come at a heavy price
A CRASH involving several vehicles led to congestion on the westbound M62 at J25 Brighouse yesterday afternoon.
Highways England said the westbound exit slip road was closed as a result of a “multivehicle accident”.
The agency tweeted: “The M62 junction 25 westbound exit slip for Brighouse is closed due to a multivehicle collision.
“Please allow extra time and use an alternative route.”
The incident happened at 4.38pm
Traffic had returned to normal by about 6.30pm. Get your voucher for a double pack of Velvet Comfort toilet tissue (T&Cs apply). Appearing in your Examiner Tuesday 3rd January. Well Velvet® think you shouldn’t have to choose. They’ve been conducting important research in order to find the perfect balance of softness and strength. With their new and approved 3-ply Velvet Comfort, they’re confident they’ve found it! Try it for yourself and have your own Halleloojah moment with the Velvetiest Velvet yet! Pick up your FREE 2-pack of Velvet Comfort toilet rolls from Huddersfield Bus Station, when you purchase a copy of The Huddersfield Daily Examiner on Tuesday 3rd January KIRKLEES Council risks losing key funding from major arts bodies if it sells elements of its collection.
It would join other local authorities such as Northampton and Bury, which were stripped of their accredited status by Arts Council England after disposing of heritage assets.
Kirklees’ Labour council leader David Sheard is calling for a public debate to look at all options regarding the borough’s “superstar” painting, Francis Bacon’s ‘Figure Study II.’ It has been valued at £19.5 million but, based on recent auction prices, art experts say it could be worth double or even treble that amount.
Art lovers are against any sale, warning that such a move could be “the thin end of the wedge”.
Equally worryingly, losing Arts Council accreditation could make Kirklees a cultural pariah.
In 2006 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council sold LS Lowry’s ‘A Riverbank’ at auction for £1.4 million, far exceeding its £500800,000 asking price. Money from the sale was earmarked to resolve the authority’s budget deficit.
The sale provoked a furious response, with the Museums Association describing it as “a dark day for museums, and a worrying development, particularly for local authority museums”.
In 2014 Northampton Museum raised nearly £16 million to help pay for an extension after it sold a 4,000-year-old limestone statue of the Egyptian god Sekhemka at auction.
It was later penalised by Arts Council England, which withdrew its accreditation, effectively closing the door to a range of funding opportunities from it and other organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was ruled that the sale breached the accredited standards for how museums manage their collections.
And this summer two sculptures by Barbara Hepworth were sold by Wakefield Girls’ High School at Sotheby’s in London for more than £2.2 million. The school said proceeds from the sale would be used for new bursaries and “enhanced opportunities for students”. The sale was prompted by rising insurance costs. Hepworth attended the school from age six to 17.
Criticism and negative comment can have international repercussions. In America in 2003 the Museum of Northern Arizona was lambasted by the American Association of Museums for the “unethical” sale of artefacts to fund payroll and other operating costs because items are kept in “public trust”.
Clr Sheard said significant Arts Council money had been forthcoming to fund living artists in North Kirklees, and the risk of losing accreditation was a concern. He estimated the figure was in the region of £2 million.
He added that it is too soon to say whether the council could mount a legal challenge against a restrictive covenant that prevents the Bacon painting being sold.