THE MUSEUM of Carpet in Kidderminster is set to close at the end of next week, as planned.
Wyre Forest District Council met to discuss the venue on Wednesday.
Members vowed to help give the venue a future but said the way to do that was not through a ‘financial bailout’ because the museum in its current form was not sustainable.
A motion was put forward by Wyre Forest District Council leader, Coun Marcus Hart, who expressed his sadness.
He said the authority was not in a position to offer the venue short or long-term revenue funding.
But he said the council recognised the heritage of Kidderminster’s Carpet and its impact over the past 200 years, including employing 20,000 people at its height.
Speaking after delivering his motion, he thanked all the volunteers, trustees and everyone who had helped run it since its launch 13 years ago.
He said the council was not in a position to help the Museum of Carpet then and it was not now.
“I don’t believe simply funding the same thing in the same place with the same business model is the right approach.”
It could, he added, help by maybe funding a relocation of the archive or help the museum start afresh again with a new entity and, were that the case, he believed the authority would consider offering it a helping hand.
He said he and his cabinet colleagues would be meeting with Kidderminster Town Council and hoped to meet with the museum’s trustees early in the new year.
He added there had been massive support on social media and he hoped some of them could help the trustees and the museum.
Coun Leigh Whitehouse, who represents the area where the Museum of Carpet is based, moved an amendment to the motion which was very similar but that was lost.
Several other councillors, including Coun Fran Oborski and Coun Tracy Onslow emphasised several factors, including the museum was ‘in the wrong place with regard’ to having no footfall nearby, having no cafe and no parking on-site for cars or coaches.
This, they said, hampered it because it meant school groups would not visit, which would be a source of traffic and income during the day when most working people and families were unable to visit.
Coun Onslow said: “Don’t put a museum where you want people to get to – put it where people are already and can go and visit it while they are in the area.”
She also said the carpet museum or similar venue in the future should put on extra events and be available for family and private functions, such as weddings.
Bewdley Museum had more than 200,000 visitors every year because, they said, people – and in particular tourists – were already in the town and local area.
It was suggested storage be found for the exhibits and, whilst there was nowhere big enough currently to host the whole collection, maybe they could be displayed in some of the councils’ other buildings, where there was footfall, such as the recently revamped Kidderminster Town Hall and Piano Building.
The original motion was unanimously backed by all members and meetings will now take place with Kidderminster Town Council and the museum’s trustees to find a sustainable way forward.
