GETTING MORE OUT OF OUR SPENDING

Proposal 1: Museums Offer Portfolio Lead: Citizen Focus and Engagement

1. Summary of Proposal

1.1 The proposal is to meet MTFP savings targets of £0.150m through changes to the operation of museums. This will include:

 Reduction in the number of the sites from which the Museums Service operates.  Changes to opening hours to better match customer demand.  Changes to fees and charges.  Changes to management structure.

2. Background

2.1 The proposal follows a full internal review of the Council’s museum offer, which will result in a new museums forward plan for the period 2020-2023 delivered within a reduced financial envelope. Stockport Council has a high number of cultural assets compared to other Boroughs in Greater Manchester. This review will focus museum provision on a reduced number of sites and reinvigorating and refreshing the offer at these sites. Alternative uses will be found for any sites that are no longer required for core museum purposes. In some instances, this may provide opportunities for community organisations or volunteers.

2.2 The Council will also adopt a new approach to its use of collections, seeking to display these in different, more accessible locations and increase audience interaction with objects.

3. Scope

3.1 The museum sites in scope of this review are:

 Air Raid Shelters  Bramall Hall  Chadkirk Chapel  Hatworks (see below)  Staircase House  Stockport Museum

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 War Memorial Art Gallery

3.2 As part of a separate, but linked, development, the Council has for some time been seeking to refresh and reinvigorate the offer at Hatworks as this site has now been open nearly 20 years. During the consultation period, arts and health organisation, Arc, have relocated to the top floor of the museum, creating a new arts hub in Stockport town centre. The museum galleries are now temporarily closed to the public whilst refurbishment and reinterpretation works take place. It is anticipated that the site will fully reopen in 2020 to coincide with its 20th anniversary.

4. Consultation and Engagement

Engagement Stakeholders Engagement Period Method Museum visitors and residents Public of Stockport Consultation via Have September- November 2019 Your Say website Staff Staff consultation on broad September- November 2019 proposals and changes to workforce Schools and other partners E-mail link to Have Your September- November 2019 Say website

4.1 Elected Councillors have been involved throughout all stages of consultation and engagement, both at Scrutiny Committee and in other settings.

4.2 Consultation with the public and other stakeholders has taken place. The full results of the public consultation are shown in Appendix 6a.

4.3 By the close of the consultation exercise, 1198 responses to the public consultation had been received. 1084 responses were received via the Have Your Say website. 114 paper copies of the consultation document were received.

4.4 Two petitions relating to the proposals were started by members of the public and local groups on the change.uk platform. By the closure of the public consultation, there were 4565 signatories to the Prevent the Closure of Stockport Museum petition and 2534 signatories to Stop the Closure of Stockport Art Gallery. Relevant comments from the petitions were assessed in

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relation to the proposals made in the public consultation.

4.5 Separate submissions on the public consultation were received from 5 stakeholder organisations

4.6 The staff consultation on the broad proposals elicited 9 responses, including two group responses.

5. Detailed Proposals and Consultation Feedback

5.1 There were four elements to the original proposal:

 Reduction in the number of the sites from which the Museum Service operates.  Changes to opening hours to better match customer demand.  Changes to fees and charges.  Changes to management structure.

Each of these were broken down into more detailed propositions.

5.2 Proposal 1: Reduction in the number of sites from which the Saving museum service operates. £0.040m

(a) Relocate the Stockport Museum family gallery to a more suitable and accessible location in Stockport Town Centre, make greater use of the War Memorial Art Gallery for displaying the Council’s other museum collections and close Stockport Museum in the Market Place.

(b) Offer local organisations the opportunity to run the visitor and refreshment facility at Chadkirk Chapel and for the Council to cease operating the museum offer at the site.

5.3 The rationale behind the original proposal was as follows:

 Running seven sites across different locations requires a significant amount of management to make sure that all museums are appropriately staffed during current opening times and to respond to any issues at the different buildings. The Council already has limited ability to change and refresh displays in its museums. This can discourage visitors returning to our sites after an initial visit because there is nothing new to see.

 We propose to focus on developing and improving those sites which are most important to defining Stockport’s identity as a town and which are most important as buildings in their own right. Hatworks, which has not changed

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significantly since it opened in 2000, it requires improving and updating. To facilitate this, gallery spaces are temporarily closed for refurbishment and reinterpretation.

 The Stockport Museum building, which opened in 2005, is not considered to play a major role in the town’s heritage. With the exception of the popular family gallery, the site has struggled to establish itself either with residents or visitors to Stockport. The family gallery is too small for the number of people who want to use it and access is poor, particularly for parents with small children. The original proposal was that a more suitable location was found for the family gallery, and that other key museum collections were displayed at the War Memorial Art Gallery. If this proposal were to proceed in its original form, Stockport Museum would be closed in September 2020, once improvements to Hatworks have been completed.

 Chadkirk Chapel’s offer as a museum is limited, but the site attracts visitors for various activities and refreshments. The site has been increasingly used as a venue for civil weddings in the past two years. Our original proposal was to work with local organisations to see if they were interested in taking over responsibility for opening the Chapel to the public and operating the refreshment facility at the site. Under the original proposal, the Council would no longer operate Chadkirk Chapel as a museum. Discussions through the consultation process have highlighted that there are a number of other opportunities which could be explored with local groups at the site.

5.4 As well as 1198 responses to the public consultation, 4565 people had signed a change.uk petition entitled Prevent the Closure of Stockport Museum and 2534 people had signed another entitled Stop the Closure of Stockport Art Gallery as at the close of the public consultation on 18th November. The Council has received separate written submissions from a number of local organisations. Detailed feedback was also received from museums staff. Meetings to discuss the proposals took place with local stakeholder organisations, including Friends of Chadkirk, Stockport Art Guild and Vernon Mill Artists.

5.5 Within the public consultation, 70.6% of respondents strongly disagreed or tended to disagree with the proposal to reduce the number of sites operated by the museum service. 24.3% of respondents strongly agreed or tended to agree with this proposal. Of comments received relating to this proposal, 14.4% related specifically to Chadkirk Chapel, 12.9% related specifically to Stockport Museum, 9.5% related specifically related to the War Memorial Art Gallery.

5.6 Feedback received through the consultation process asked the Council to look at a number of alternative options which could potentially enable the proposed saving to be achieved, but would enable collections and buildings to remain accessible and deliver solutions which were sustainable over the medium and

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longer term. It was not possible to fully investigate these options prior to the closure of the public consultation.

5.7 In response to this feedback, we propose to carry out further investigation of alternative solutions prior to moving to implementation of Proposal 1. Specifically, we propose to:

(a) Further investigate potential alternative management models for the public programme at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery, possibly involving local art groups, to significantly reduce operational costs at this site and enable the current exhibitions model to continue. We aim to come to a conclusion on this by 30th September 2020.

(b) Identify alternative ways of providing access to museum collections in Stockport Town Centre, which would enable us to achieve the savings required by the closure of Stockport Museum, whilst addressing concerns that have been raised through the consultation process. We aim to come to a conclusion on this by 30th September 2020.

(c) Investigate how regular public access to the museum offer at Chadkirk Chapel could be maintained whilst still achieving the necessary budget savings required. We aim to come to a conclusion on this by 31st March 2020.

5.8 Whilst the requirement to achieve the savings required from the initial proposal remains, the Council is committed to fully investigating the alternative suggestions which have been made through the consultation process before implementation of the original proposal. It is proposed that any budget pressures arising from delays to implementation are funded from one-off reserves.

5.9 Proposal 2: Changes to public opening hours to better match Saving customer demand £0.040m

(a) Change public opening hours at Air Raid Shelters so that the site is open to the public Thursday and Friday 1pm-5pm, Saturday 10-5pm and Sunday 11am-4pm. Schools and pre-booked groups will still be able to visit outside these times.

(b) Change public opening hours at Bramall Hall so that the site is open to the public Thursday and Friday 1pm-5pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am-4pm. Schools and pre-booked groups will still be able to visit outside these times.

(c) Change public opening hours at the War Memorial Art Gallery so that the site is open to the public Thursday and Friday 1pm-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm

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and Sunday 11am-4pm.

(d) Change public opening hours at Staircase House so that the site is open to the public Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 11am-4pm. Schools and pre- booked groups will still be able to visit outside these times.

(e) Introduce new public opening hours at Hatworks after the site’s refurbishment of Thursday and Friday 1pm-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 11am- 4pm. Schools and pre-booked groups will still be able to visit outside these times.

(f) Discontinue Bank Holiday opening at Air Raid Shelters, Hatworks, Staircase House and War Memorial Art Gallery

5.10 The rationale behind the original proposal was based on a review of our visitor data over the last 3 years and identified trends which found:

 Our sites are generally busiest on Saturdays and Sundays.  Sites can be quiet on weekdays during term time but get much busier during school holidays.  Bank holidays are generally quiet at sites in Stockport Town Centre.  There are no weekdays when all of our sites are consistently busy.  Visitor levels at Staircase House are consistently significantly lower than at any of our other sites.

5.11 In reviewing our museum opening hours, the Council’s aspiration is to match opening hours as closely as possible to visitor demand. However, we also need to ensure that opening hours are easy for visitors to understand, are practical for staff working patterns and allow visitors to enjoy more than one site whilst they are in Stockport.

5.12 Schools and groups who have booked in advance will still be able to access our sites outside the public opening hours, but the changes we are proposing to make mean that we will not be staffing our sites at times of low public demand. Because our sites are significantly busier on weekdays during school holidays, we propose to open Air Raid Shelters, Bramall Hall, Hatworks and Staircase House for additional hours during Stockport school holidays. There will continue to be occasional closures of Bramall Hall on Saturdays for private functions.

5.13 Within the public consultation, 47.4% of respondents strongly disagreed or tended to disagree with this proposal. 36.9% of respondents strongly agreed or tended to agree with this proposal.

5.14 Respondents to the public consultation provided a number of alternative suggestions regarding opening hours, including:

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 Having sites open for full days on Thursday and Friday to enable people to visit more than one site whilst in Stockport.  Staggering opening hours across sites so there was always a site open within the Town Centre.  Opening sites longer in school holidays.  Retaining bank holiday opening hours.

5.15 The Council has already stated in the consultation documentation that we will open museum sites for longer during Stockport school holidays. The other suggestions made would be difficult to manage logistically or potentially limit the number of schools who were able to visit sites. Current footfall to town centre sites on bank holidays does not justify retaining bank holiday opening hours at these sites.

5.16 Following consideration of the feedback in the consultation process, it is proposed that the revised opening hours from 1st April 2020 are as originally proposed, namely:

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Bank Hol Air Raid Shelters Schools & Pre Booked Groups Only 1pm-5pm 1pm-5pm 10am-5pm 11am-4pm Closed Bramall Hall Schools & Pre Booked Groups Only 1pm-5pm 1pm-5pm 11am-4pm 11am-4pm 11am-4pm Hatworks Galleries Closed for Refurbishment Until 01/10/20 Staircase House Schools & Pre Booked Groups Only 10am-5pm 11am-4pm Closed Stockport Museum Closed 10am-5pm 10am-5pm 10am-5pm 10am-5pm 10am-5pm 11am-4pm Closed War Memorial Art Gallery Closed Closed Closed 1pm-5pm 1pm-5pm 10am-5pm 11am-4pm Closed

5.17 Future arrangements for public access to Chadkirk Chapel are subject to the further feasibility work identified in paragraph 5.7

5.18 Proposal 3: Changes to fees and charges Saving £0.020m

(a) Maintain free of charge access to Stockport’s core collections, which tell the story of the town, and the museums’ family gallery.

(b) Introduce new charging structures for our specialist museums which aim to better cover the costs of operating these sites.

5.19 Our original proposals were underpinned by the following rationale:

 We aim to cover the costs of the specialist museums we run (Air Raid Shelters, Bramall Hall, Hatworks and Staircase House) as far as we can through admission charges, school and group visits, retail sales and private hire, but the Council still makes a contribution towards their cost. We

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propose to offset the cost of operating our specialist sites by increasing admission charges at these museums.

 To minimise the impact this has on our visitors, we propose that all admission tickets for our sites will now be valid from one year of purchase, giving people the opportunity to return free of charge (except for special events) within that year. We also propose to introduce a new family ticket which will reduce the impact of the introduction of charges for accompanied children at these sites.

 We propose to introduce a higher admission charge for Bramall Hall than our town centre museums as it is a much larger site, so people are more likely to spend more time here than at the other museums. It still represents excellent value for money in comparison to privately operated historic houses and those managed by the charitable sector.

 We propose to introduce an admission charge for the museum galleries at Hatworks. The visitor experience will be significantly improved as a result of refurbishments currently taking place and this will bring the site into line with our other specialist museums. Access to the café area will continue to be free of charge.

 We propose to continue to offer multi-site tickets to encourage people to explore all our specialist museum sites for a reduced fee.

5.20 Within the public consultation, 48% of respondents strongly agreed or tended to agree with this proposal. 35.7% of respondents strongly disagreed or tended to disagree with this proposal.

5.21 Respondents to the public consultation made a number of comments relating to the proposed charges, including:

 Paying the proposed additional fee was acceptable if it meant the museums could continue to operate.  Less privileged and persons/families on low income would be most affected by the suggested price increases.  Increased admission charges would reduce the number of visitors.  The increase at Bramall Hall was significantly higher than the other sites and considered to be disproportionate.  The idea of multi-site tickets and the proposal that ticket prices included return visits was welcomed.  Discontinuation of the ‘Kids Go Free’ concept was a retrograde step.

5.22 Following consideration of the feedback received through the consultation process, it is proposed that the fees and charges from 1st April 2020 are as originally proposed:

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5.23 Proposal 4: Reduction in management costs of running the Saving museums £0.050m

5.24 The final saving proposal for museums in Stockport is to reduce the management costs of running the museums. This would be possible if the number of sites were reduced and the proposed reduction in opening hours were implemented.

5.25 Consultation has taken place with affected staff. Feedback has suggested broad support for the proposal with some concerns about future capacity, proposed job descriptions and implementation timescales. These issues will be addressed by phased implementation during 2020 to ensure that timescales for management reductions are made in line with the reduction of the service offer.

6. Summary of Next Steps

6.1 Following the consultation exercise and other feedback, we propose to carry out further investigation of alternative solutions prior to moving to implementation of Proposal 1. We aim to complete this process by 30th September 2020.

6.2 It is proposed that Proposals 2, 3 and 4 are implemented in their original form. Proposals 2 and 3 will be implemented with effect from 1st April 2020. Proposal 4 will be implemented on a phased basis from 1st April 2020.

7. Financials

7.1 The financial scope for this review is set out below:

<2019/20> Revised Full year Cash Limit Cash Saving Saving Budget Limit £000 £000 £000 1. Full internal review of the Council’s museum offer 692 (150) 542

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7.2 The review of the museums service includes opening times, entry fees, the number of sites we operate and changes to staffing structure. Any change in demand assumptions will affect the ability to make the saving.

8. Key Timescales

Output at Milestone description Date expected milestone Museum reviews completed and draft Draft for Forward Plan produced with proposals for September 2019 consultation service changes Communication on proposed changes to Briefing sessions September 2019 staff complete Public and staff consultation period September- Consultation October 2019 complete Proposals and business case finalised Updated following consultation November 2019 proposals and business case Final proposal presented to Cabinet Approved by January 2020 Cabinet Investigation of alternative model of Study complete sustaining public access to Chadkirk and March 2020 museum offer recommendation made Implementation of revised opening hours New opening April 2020 hours apply Implementation of revised fees and New fees and charges April 2020 charges apply

Implementation of new management New Phased from structure management April 2020 structure in place Investigation of alternative management Study complete model for public programme at War and September 2020 Memorial Art Gallery recommendation made Investigation of alternative ways of Study complete providing access to museum collections in and September 2020 Stockport Town Centre which enable recommendation closure of Stockport Museum made

9. Interdependencies and constraints

9.1 There will need to be an interface between the temporary closure of Hatworks for previously planned improvement works and any other changes arising from these proposals. Consequently, it is likely that introduction of changes would be phased over 2020.

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10. Risks

Description of Risk Action

Alternative management models Proposal 1 proceeds in its original form proposed through consultation process with delayed timescale are not feasible Delays to implementation create budget Reserves requested to deal with budget pressure in service pressure Changes to provision will require significant capacity to reconfigure sites Reserves request for additional capacity and document movement of collections. to facilitate changes. Insufficient capacity will lead to delays in project implementation.

11. Equality Impact Assessment

Equality Impact Assessment

Date: November 2019 Museums Offer Stage: Draft

Stage 1: Do you need to complete an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)?

About Equality Impact Assessments

An Equality Impact Assessment is required as this proposal will result in a changed museums offer being available to the public, namely:

 Physical access to museum sites and collections  Times when the service is provided to customers  Cost of accessing services

Service reductions will also have an impact on our current staff, as there is the potential for redundancy, reductions in hours and changes to working patterns.

Stage 2: What do you know?

The protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are as follows:

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 Age  Disability  Gender reassignment  Marriage and civil partnership  Pregnancy and maternity  Race  Religion or belief  Sex  Sexual orientation

Stockport’s Museums receive in the region of 125,000 visitors per year. Current service usage information does not break down visitors into these categories and it would not be operationally feasible to collect this data on customers. We cannot assume that our visitors are reflective of the demographic make-up of the Borough.

We are aware of certain characteristics of our contracted workforce:

Age

Headcount Percentage 25-29 1 3.03% 30-34 5 15.15% 35-39 2 6.06% 40-44 2 6.06% 45-49 4 12.12% 50-54 2 6.06% 55-59 10 30.30% 60-64 4 12.12% 65-69 3 9.09% Total 33 100.00%

Disability

Headcount Percentage Yes 2 6.06% No 28 84.85% Not Stated 3 9.09% Total 33 100.00%

Race

Headcount Percentage White - British 28 84.85% White - Irish 1 3.03% White - Other 1 3.03% Prefer Not to State 1 3.03% Not Stated 2 6.06% Total 33 100.00%

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Gender

Headcount Percentage Female 28 84.85% Male 5 15.15% Total 33 100.00%

Full / Part-Time

Headcount Percentage

Full Time 9 27.27% Part Time 24 72.73% Total 33 100.00%

Stage 2a: Further data and consultation

A public consultation exercise was completed in the period 18th September to 18th November 2019. We had received 1198 responses.

As part of the consultation, comments were invited on the impact the proposals would have on the individual.

The demographic breakdown of respondents was as follows:

What best describes your gender? 359 (31.5%) Male 730 (64.1%) Female 4 (0.4%) Prefer to self-describe 45 (4.0%) Prefer not to answer

Do you consider yourself to have an impairment, disability or long-term health condition? 208 (18.4%) Yes 851 (75.3%) No 71 (6.3%) Prefer not to answer

What is your age? 3 (0.3%) 0 - 17 13 (1.1%) 18 - 24 88 (7.7%) 25 - 34 227 (20.0%) 35 - 44 209 (18.4%) 45 - 54 255 (22.4%) 55 - 64

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211 (18.6%) 65 - 74 62 (5.5%) 75 - 84 2 (0.2%) 85+ 66 (5.8%) Prefer not to answer

How would you define your ethnic group? 967 White- English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern (89.4%) Irish/British 12 (1.1%) White- Irish 0 (0.0%) White- Gypsy or Irish Traveller 20 (1.8%) White- any other White background, please specify 4 (0.4%) Mixed- White and Black Caribbean 4 (0.4%) Mixed- White and Black African 3 (0.3%) Mixed- White and Asian 0 (0.0%) Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background, please 1 (0.1%) Asian or Asian British-Indian 1 (0.1%) Asian or Asian British- Pakistani 0 (0.0%) Asian or Asian British-Bangladeshi 1 (0.1%) Asian or Asian British- Chinese 0 (0.0%) Any other Asian background, please specify 1 (0.1%) Black or Black British- African 2 (0.2%) Black or Black British- Caribbean 0 (0.0%) Any other Black/African/Caribbean background, please specify 0 (0.0%) Other ethnic groups - Arab 5 (0.5%) Any other ethnic group, please specify 61 (5.6%) Prefer not to answer 0 (0.0%) Not Answered

How would you define your religion or belief? 449 (40.3%) No religion 474 (42.6%) Christian 1 (0.1%) Muslim 1 (0.1%) Hindu 10 (0.9%) Buddhist 6 (0.5%) Jewish 0 (0.0%) Sikh 27 (2.4%) Other 145 (13.0%) Prefer not to answer

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Stage 3: Results and Measures

The proposals cut across a number of areas of museum services in Stockport. It is not possible to mitigate the impact that they will have on individuals and groups with protected characteristics, as people choose to use our services, and our services are not targeted at any particular group.

It is difficult to mitigate the impact on a predominantly female and part-time workforce as any changes to service delivery will inevitably affect staff. Changes will affect posts at management (M and SO) and museum assistant level (Scales 2 and 3) which are mainly occupied by female employees.

Following the public consultation, staff feedback and other public feedback, we propose to engage further with local groups to consider whether there are alternative ways of achieving the saving required by Proposal 1, to reduce the number of sites from which the Museum Service operates. This process of more detailed engagement will give us a clearer picture of the impact of this proposed change on groups and individuals.

Stage 4: Decision Stage

To be completed once a final decision has been taken on implementation of the four proposals.

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