‘No chance closed museums will re-open’

SELLING off the painting by Francis Bacon would not save the museums axed under Government austerity cuts, says a top Kirklees councillor.

Council cabinet member Clr Graham Turner said Dewsbury Museum and Red House Museum in Gomersal were closed for good and that the ruling Labour group has “no intention of selling anything” from the authority’s art collection.

The prospect of selling the Francis Bacon painting Figure Study II has been raised as a means of ploughing money back into beleaguered services.

Kirklees has seen its £1 million arts budget slashed in half. Tolson Museum in Huddersfield is the third site earmarked for closure.

Clr Turner said: “Why would we want to dismantle our collection? We are not heathens.

“We just have to make the best of our budget. We have no intention of selling anything from the art gallery.”

And he dismissed suggestions that museums could be re-opened.

“I cannot foresee a situation where we could re-open even if we wanted to.”

He added: “If the Contemporary Art Society gave (the Bacon painting) in perpetuity then it’s interesting. That is not my understanding.”

He said the notion of mounting a legal challenge was “not on the agenda at the moment”.

“You would not make any decision until you were 100 per cent sure what is in the covenant and then take the decision over whether it was worth mounting a legal challenge.

“If there is a covenant and it’s watertight then we would have to speak with a QC. Would that be a waste of taxpayers’ money?”

Dewsbury Museum and Red House will not be mothballed but the council would consider an asset transfer to a community organisation. If that isn’t possible, they could be sold.