Hampshire County Council Item 7
Economic Prosperity Sub-Committee
20 April 2000
Community Development and Conservation Sub-Committee
28 April 2000
Feasibility Study for the Hovercraft Museum Trust
Report of the Chief Executive
Contact: Nicola Horsey, Ext 5423
1. Summary
1.1 This report highlights the main findings of a
Feasibility Study undertaken to establish a Hovercraft
Museum at HMS Daedalus in Gosport. It questions some of
the assumptions made in the Study and highlights some
important omissions. The report recommends that the
County Council supports the need to conserve the most
important part of the collection of the Hovercraft Museum
Trust, but does not support the setting up of a Museum
because its viability has not been demonstrated by the
Feasibility Study.
2. Background
2.1 The Hovercraft Society, which was set up in 1971,
has been building up an important collection of
hovercraft, models, drawings, books, and papers for
nearly 30 years. Today the collection represents the
largest and only known archive and collection in the
world devoted to the research, invention, design,
development, manufacture and operation of air cushion
technology and includes 40 hovercraft of all sizes. The
Hovercraft Museum Trust was then established in 1989 to
secure a permanent home for the collection and,
eventually, to open it to the public as a museum/visitor
attraction.
2.2 The collection is currently spread around several
sites in the Gosport area and the Isle of Wight, some
undercover and some in the open. In 1994 the Trust was
allowed to move its largest hovercraft into HMS Daedalus
in Gosport where it has remained ever since. The County
Council part financed the move with a £5,000 grant.
2.3 In 1998 a heritage and tourism consultant, Ian
Parkin, was appointed by the Trust to:-
- assess the value and significance of the
collection
- assess the suitability of a number of sites for
use as a museum
- draw up a 10 year phased development plan for
the museum
- look at the capital costs and market potential
of the museum
- prepare a business plan and action plan
2.4 The result is a lengthy report which was part
funded by the County Council (£2,000), along with Fareham
and Gosport Borough Councils (£1,000 each) and the South
East Museum Service (£2,000). A copy of the report has
been placed in the Members Room until the end of April.
3. Key findings
3.1 The key findings of the Feasibility Study are as
follows:-
i) The collection is important, although the Study
does not discuss which parts are the most important and
should be conserved whatever happens. The collection
needs to be brought undercover at one location where it
can be properly documented and conserved to professional
standards.
ii) The report looked at 16 sites around Hampshire and
the Isle of Wight. 13 were dismissed in 5/6 lines,
leaving two sites at HMS Daedalus in Gosport, one near
the slipway, one based around the Dunning Hangar, and a
third site at the former Husband's Shipyard at Marchwood,
as the only possible places to develop a Hovercraft
Museum.
iii) In the first five years the Museum could attract 15
- 20,000 visitors a year from Open Days and events. By
year 6 the Museum, could attract 35 -40,000 visitors a
year.
iv) The study recommends an incremental development
over a 10-year period.
v) In the early years the operating costs are
identified as £60,000 per annum. The Study suggests a
grant could be found towards the salary costs (although
it does not say where the grant could come from) with the
rest of the costs being met by events, open days, filming
rights and office/workshop rental. The need for start-up
funding of £100,000 is highlighted to ensure that the
Trust can be established on a proper professional footing
from the beginning. This, the Study suggests, could come
from grants, donations by covenant, a share issue and
legacies.
vi) Of the three sites, Marchwood is the more expensive
option in capital terms, because a new building is
required, and in on-going revenue terms because slightly
fewer visitors are projected in the 10 year Income and
Expenditure statement. The result is that the two sites
at Daedalus show an operating loss for one of the 10
years and Marchwood for four of the 10 years.
vii) The preferred option of the Study is the site near
the slipway at HMS Daedalus, followed by the Dunning
Hangar site. The Study recommends that the Marchwood
site is only considered if the two sites at HMS Daedalus
do not materialise.
4. Discussion
4.1 Unlike many feasibility studies, the one for the
Hovercraft Museum is relatively realistic in terms of its
proposed phased development over a 10-year period.
However, certain assumptions are built in which need to
be questioned and other factors are not mentioned which
all affect the overall viability of the proposals. These
are as follows:-
i) It is assumed that a benefactor would buy the
Daedalus site, giving the Trust the land and buildings
wanted free of charge. This seems even less likely when,
as the Study itself admits, the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
want to sell the whole site as one large lot, including
the airfield.
ii) The Study states:
'It is crucial that the project generates debt
free funding for capital works to avoid on-going
revenue obligations to repay debts'.
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It then goes on to say that other successful
heritage and cultural projects have secured up
to 80% of their funding from two sources, the
Heritage Lottery Fund and European Union
funding. Whilst this might be the case in other
parts of the county which are eligible are large
European grants, it is certainly not possible in
Hampshire. The Study assumes that the Museum
will not have any capital repayments to make and
therefore no on-going revenue obligation to
repay debts are shown in the 10 year Income and
Expenditure statements.
iii) The Study acknowledges that the establishment of
new museums/visitor
attractions is a low priority for all the major
funding agencies. The
Study's heavy reliance on money from the Heritage
Lottery Fund is
therefore unrealistic.
iv) It is not realistic to assume that grants of 40% of
the salary costs can be found and that up to £100,000 of
'start up funding' can be raised to establish the Trust
on a proper professional footing.
v) The Study says that the Marchwood site could
be acquired by the Trust on a 125-year lease. The
10-year Income and Expenditure statement does not
include the rent that would need to be paid.
vi) It is assumed that the MoD will sell Daedalus
quickly and before the
lease runs out in June 2000 to keep the largest
hovercraft out on the
waterfront, opposite the slipway.
vii) The Study does not properly examine the benefits
and drawbacks of all the potential sites in Hampshire and
the Isle of Wight and dismisses 13 of them in 5/6 lines.
For example, two possible sites on the Isle of Wight are
said to be unsuitable because 'visitor numbers could be
reduced by at least 35% by being on the Isle of Wight'.
This seems to contrary to recent figures showing an
increase in visitors to the Isle of Wight in 1999 to 2.7
million.
viii) The Dunning Hangar option at Daedalus would require
knocking down some buildings to move the largest
hovercraft into it. This may not be so easy to do
because most of the Daedalus site is within a
Conservation Area.
ix) The planning, environmental and transportation
impacts of a Hovercraft Museum have not been considered
as part of the Study. For example, how would the
hovercrafts cross the road from Daedalus to the slipway
and then onto the Solent? How would this be controlled?
Arguable the most important part of the 'experience' at
the Museum would be hovercraft rides. Would operating
hovercraft have an adverse effect on the nearby Special
Protection Area? What about the impact of noise on the
neighbouring residential areas? There is an Article 4
planning condition precluding the operation of hovercraft
near to the Gosport shoreline. This is not mentioned in
the Study.
x) How realistic are the projected visitor figures of
35 - 40,000 a year by year 6? Many existing museums in
Hampshire do not achieve this many visitors now and a
significant number are struggling to survive. In
addition, as the Study admits, the preferred site is 'out
on a limb' and this will further impact on visitor
numbers along with the 'museum fatigue' which is likely
to occur with all the other museums are have open or are
due to open in the near future in the Portsmouth Harbour
area.
xi) The Study assumes early on that the only way to
secure the future care of, and access to, the collection
is through the establishment of a new museum. It does
not explore cheaper alternatives to a museum which could
conserve the most significant parts of the collection and
allow public access to the collection via open days, IT,
educational events and so on. This type of approach
would fulfil the Trust's aim of allowing public access
without the burden of large fixed overheads and operating
costs associated with traditional museums.
5. Conclusion
5.1 The Hovercraft Museum Trust has asked the County
Council to support the concept of a museum and its
preferred location on the frontage at HMS Daedalus. The
Trust should be congratulated on all that they have
achieved to date and there is no doubt that some of the
Trust's collection is of great importance and needs to be
conserved in one location. The County Council should
support this aim. However, the County Council should not
support the establishment of a Hovercraft Museum at
Daedalus because the Feasibility Study does not prove
that a Hovercraft Museum is viable. Instead the Trust
should be encouraged to explore cheaper and more
realistic alternatives to a museum as outlined in xi)
above.
Recommendations
1. That the County Council congratulates the
Hovercraft Museum Trust on all that is has achieved and
encourages the Trust to conserve the key parts of the
collection in one location with an appropriate degree of
public access.
2. That the County Council does not believe that a
museum, based on the assumptions made in the Feasibility
Study, has been demonstrated to be viable.
3. The Hovercraft Museum Trust should be encouraged to
consider cheaper alternatives to a museum.
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