HARLOW Museum is set to undergo a radical overhaul after being taken over by new operators this April.
Plans to offload the service to the voluntary sector along with Pets' Corner, Parndon Wood Nature Reserve and the town’s arts and events services were unanimously approved by Harlow Council’s cabinet on Tuesday (January 31)night.
The move, which could potentially save the authority more than £400,000 over a three-year-period, must now to be ratified by the full council at next Thursday’s budget meeting for changes to start being implemented.
Harlow Museum will undergo the biggest transformation of the five when it is taken over by Science Alive on April 1 this year.
Plans for a combined science and heritage exhibition to be installed at the group’s Leisurezone headquarters will mean visitors will now have to pay for admission.
The entrance fee, likely to be around £4 per child and £5 per adult, will include access to all of the group’s usual exhibitions as well as to collections rotated from archive storage at the museum’s current Mark Hall premises.
A system to enable access to museum exhibits not on display for conservation and academic research purposes is inder discussion.
New operators for the other four services have each pledged to keep them running in a similar way to the present but with several improvements. These include catering facilities at Parndon Wood Nature Reserve, the re-introduction of the Town Show and an increased educational link at Pets’ Corner.
But while Harlow MP Robert Halfon applauded the decision to transfer the services, his Labour opponent Suzy Stride warned the move could put their long-term future in jeopardy.
Mr Halfon said: "I welcome these proposals because essentially they mean that popular services like Pets’ Corner will continue running in the community for the community on a not-for-profit basis.
"It is savings made from tough decisions like these which mean council tax can be frozen in Harlow for a third year running. At a time when people are facing incredibly economic strain everything must be done to try and keep that council tax frozen to make things easier."
He added: "I think given the extreme current economic pressures currently being faced by Harlow Council that to have ensured important services remain in community hands as well as being able to freeze tax again is extraordinary."
But Ms Stride told the Star: "It is wrong that Harlow Council is making decisions about the future of services without properly consulting local people. I know how special Pets’ Corner, Harlow Museum, the Gibberd Gallery and Parndon Wood are to local people and they should have a say in what happens to them.
"We need answers from the council on the long-term future of these much loved attractions, and we need reassurances that they will still be free for people to visit and that no one will be left without a job as a result of this outsourcing."
