Car museum dream ends weeks before opening date
PLANS to create a new vintage car museum in Derbyshire – which was set to open in April – have been scrapped.
In October, plans were approved by Amber Valley Borough Council for the new visitor attraction to be located at the former Richard Johnson & Nephew Wire Works factory off the A6 in Ambergate.
A company called The Great British Car Journey Ltd was behind the proposals for the Derwent Works site.
The Derby Telegraph reported last year that the site would be called the Ambergate Motor Heritage Centre and would create around 30 jobs.
Part of the museum would involve visitors being able to drive a selection of the exhibits along a defined mile-long route on the extensive site, around the buildings of an existing construction firm.
More than 100 cars were set to be on display inside the museum.
However, the company behind the project say that due to “unforeseen circumstances” it can no longer deliver the museum for the county – just weeks before it was set to open to the public.
Several reasons have been given for the cancellation, including the health of two of the company’s directors and “unforeseen” spiralling development costs.
The Great British Car Journey Ltd has put a statement at the top of its main Twitter page. It says: “The directors of The Great British Car Journey regret to announce that the project, due to open in Derbyshire this April, cannot proceed any further due to circumstances beyond its control.
“Sadly, two of the directors have been diagnosed with illnesses requiring extensive treatment and are therefore unable to continue work on the project.
“The situation has been further aggravated by issues with the site at Ambergate, including the recent flooding and by unforeseen additional development costs. As a result, the funding that had been secured is no longer available to the business.
“The directors would like to thank everyone who has shown enormous commitment to the venture, both locally and nationally. In the current circumstances this support is much appreciated.”
Yesterday had been planned to be a recruitment open day for the new museum but it was announced earlier in the week that it had been cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
The site had operated as a wire factory from 1876 until it closed in 1996.
In 2001, the Litchfield Group bought the complex and used the intended car museum buildings for storage of door and window products.
However, the buildings fell into a state of disrepair.