Closure of Westbury Manor Museum FAQs
Hampshire Cultural Trust’s funding position
- In December 2023, Hampshire Cultural Trust, an independent charity, informed Fareham Borough Council of its intention to withdraw from the operation of Westbury Manor Museum on 31 December 2024. Hampshire Cultural Trust operates Westbury Manor Museum on behalf of Fareham Borough Council, which, unlike other councils, does not provide ongoing funding revenue to Hampshire Cultural Trust.
- Hampshire Cultural trust is currently facing a significant, potential reduction to its funding from Hampshire County Council. Along with local authorities all over the country, Hampshire County Council has recently undertaken a major budget review.
- Hampshire County Council anticipates that they will need to find an additional £132 million each year by 2025/26 to meet their legal requirement to balance their budgets.
- Hampshire County Council is the trust’s largest funder, currently contributing £2.5 million per annum.
- Under the budget review, it is proposed that this funding will be cut by £600,000 each year by 2027.
- Under the terms of the transfer of The Great Hall by Hampshire County Council to Hampshire Cultural Trust in spring 2024, the trust will also incur a further £400,000 grant reduction by 2027 in recognition of the commercial opportunity that The Great Hall presents.
- As a result of the proposed reduction to Hampshire Cultural Trust’s funding by Hampshire County Council, the following four venues are at risk of closure:
- Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham – 2025
- Eastleigh Museum – currently closed to the public; permanent closure 2025
- Andover Museum and the Museum of the Iron Age – 2026
- Curtis Museum, Alton – 2026
- Hampshire Cultural Trust operates all these venues on behalf of Hampshire County Council.
- The final decision on the proposed reduction to Hampshire Cultural Trust’s funding from Hampshire County Council will be made in October 2024.
- Hampshire Cultural Trust does not want to close any of its venues, but in the face of this significant, potential reduction to its funding has had to make the very difficult decision to include both potential closures, as well as the confirmed closure of Westbury Manor Museum, in its future plans.
The closure of Westbury Manor Museum
Q. Is the closure of Westbury Manor Museum confirmed?
Yes. In December 2023 Hampshire Cultural Trust gave notice to Fareham Borough Council of its intention to withdraw from the operation of Westbury Manor Museum.
Q. Why is Westbury Manor Museum closing?
It is no longer financially viable for Hampshire Cultural Trust to operate the museum. The impact of Covid together with the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation mean that Westbury Manor Museum runs at a significant deficit and requires a subsidy from the trust to enable it to operate.
Q. Does Fareham Borough Council fund Westbury Manor Museum?
Westbury Manor Museum is not currently funded by Fareham Borough Council. Hampshire Cultural Trust made a formal request for funding in spring 2023, however this was declined. After a major refurbishment of the museum in 2017, Fareham Borough Council removed revenue funding from 2018.
Q. When is Westbury Manor Museum closing?
There are three key dates in the timeline for the closure of Westbury Manor Museum.
- 2 September: Westbury Manor will open to the public for three half days a week only, from 10:00am – 2:00pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. The ground floor only, including the café, will be open to the public; the first floor will be closed
- 4 November: Westbury Manor Museum will close fully to the public
- 31 December: Hampshire Cultural Trust will cease operational responsibility for Westbury Manor Museum
Q. Why is Hampshire Cultural Trust closing Westbury Manor to the public earlier than the formally agreed handover date of 31 December?
31 December has always been the final date of Hampshire Cultural Trust’s operational responsibility. To achieve that date, we need firstly to reduce our public opening hours in September and then close to the public fully in early November for two reasons. The first of these is the removal of the delicate collections currently on display in the museum - we have a duty of care to our visitors, our staff and our volunteers and cannot safely empty the building while it is still open to the public. Secondly, we need to allow time for the building to be returned to Fareham Borough Council in the condition required under the terms of our tenancy agreement.
Q. What needs to happen to the objects on display that it will take so long for them to be removed from the museum?
All of the objects currently in Westbury Manor Museum are accessioned, which means that they have an important legal status and that Hampshire Cultural Trust has a public duty to ensure their safety, care and conservation. All of the objects in the museum have to be documented and cleaned before they are returned to storage, and their removal needs to be extremely carefully planned and executed. There are 257 objects in the museum and this time-consuming care will be applied to each one.
Q. What will happen to the collections that are currently on display in the museum?
It is important to clarify that while the building is owned by Fareham Borough Council, the collections on display inside it are owned by Hampshire County Council. As such, Hampshire County Council retains overall responsibility and will work with Hampshire Cultural Trust to find a sustainable solution for their long-term accessibility.
We are determined that communities will continue to have access to their local collections where possible, however recognise that this may not be feasible immediately. Initially, all the objects will be taken back to Hampshire Cultural Trust’s central conservation facility to be carefully conserved before consideration for display in other museums throughout the county. If alternative display options cannot be found, the collections will need to be moved into storage.
Westbury Manor Museum’s iconic strawberry cart will be moved to Milestones Museum of living history in Basingstoke, which is visited by more than 100,000 people each year, and where it will continue to be viewed and appreciated as a key part of Hampshire’s agricultural and social history.
Q. I have donated an object to the Hampshire County Council Museum collections, which is on display at Westbury Manor Museum. What is going to happen now?
If an object has been donated, it legally becomes part of the permanent Hampshire County Council Museum collection which continues to be cared for by Hampshire Cultural Trust. Our collections team and conservators will prepare the objects for safe transport and most will return to the central stores in Winchester. We are looking for opportunities to display some in other local museums and look forward to including more objects on our online collections database.
Q. What will happen to staff – will there be redundancies?
No, there will not be any redundancies at Westbury Manor Museum.
Q. What will happen to the volunteers?
We cannot be specific about how this will affect our volunteers, but we have and will continue to keep those volunteers affected up to date throughout the process, as well as advising them of other volunteering opportunities in the trust that may be appropriate for them.
Q. Will events and activities continue at Westbury until the proposed closure?
Yes. Hampshire Cultural Trust intends to run events and activities until the venue closes to the public.
Q. What will happen to Westbury Manor itself?
The responsibility for the building lies with its owner, Fareham Borough Council.