The city needs more museums – not fewer

While financial pressures explain why the council finds it necessary to shed costs by closing Canterbury Heritage Museum, it cannot justify the secretive and time-limited approach.

One suspects that once a “deal” with the Marlowe Theatre appeared in prospect, there was no interest exploring alternatives. There are allegations that exclusive negotiations with the Marlowe have gone on for months.

With the short consultation period closing on March 1, and a commitment to the Marlowe probable a few weeks later, it is almost impossible for the consortium led by professor Paul Bennett, director of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, to come up with an alternative business plan.

If the decision is not deferred for a realistic period to allow such a plan to be put together and objectively considered, we may never know what we might be losing. I say that in the belief that the 15 organisations allied to professor Bennett’s proposals represent much of the city’s academic and civic best.

There is a bigger issue too. The city needs more museums, not fewer. If Canterbury tourism aspires to be more than a day-trip based on the Cathedral and gift shops, it must attract bigger spending stop-over visitors who will be looking for a “Canterbury experience”.

If the city’s museums (and other attractions) allowed a proper presentation of Canterbury’s role in English history and literature, it would be an “experience” worth talking about. Dr Norman Smith Westbere Lane, Westbere

Canterbury council is being shortsighted in thinking that tourists come to Canterbury for anything other than our history and our visitors follow in the footsteps all the pilgrims who arrived from the 12th century onwards.

The Poor Priests’ Hospital was founded in 1240s with, it seems, Simon Langton heading up the fundraising. It cared for the elderly and infirm priests but now houses Canterbury Heritage Museum, which showcases the history of our city and its inhabitants over the years.

A couple of years ago the Tories introduced new “opening hours” for the museum (which closed it for half the year) and then upped the entrance fee. There has been little publicity for the museum; limited signage or directions to it and there are never enough publicity leaflets available at the council-run tourist office. It’s obvious that visitor figures would decrease.

To close this museum and say the exhibits can move to the Beaney is not acceptable. Already the exhibits from the Buffs Regimental Museum have largely gone and residents have told us the council is looking to sell other museum exhibits which are hidden away in storage as there is no room at the Beaney for them.

If the Tory-run council is keen to save this museum, one answer could be for the Heritage museum to copy the Seaside Museum in Herne Bay, which is “run entirely by volunteers through an independent trust in partnership with Canterbury City Council” – to quote their website. Plans are also afoot to run the Whitstable museum along similar lines.

Or they can follow the council officers’ plans and close it.

I’m more than happy to collect the names of everyone who would volunteer their time at the Heritage Museum. Email Ida.linfield@cantlibdem.org.uk. Ida Linfield The Street, Boughton-under-blean the leaders of Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet district councils is for an enlarged district council. This would have no more powers than the existing districts.

A super-sized district might make some savings by cutting senior staff and councillors but it would not provide any greater efficiencies by bringing together services which are separate under the existing two-tier arrangements of districts and county councils. Only unitary councils can do that.

The super-sized district is a response to the savage cuts in council funding by the Conservative government and a response to the leader of Kent County Council, who wants to preside in regal splendour over a single Kent Council. I can understand why no one, not even the local Conservatives, would want every council service to be provided from Maidstone.

A four-way split of Kent into unitary councils would provide efficiencies of scale without losing any feeling of local community. Cllr Mike Eddy (Lab) District councillor for Mill Hill