Archived decisions

Contact: Helen Wheeler, tel 01962 845444

1 At the meeting of the Red House Museum Joint Management Committee on 22 November 2004, it was agreed that a Working Party of Officers and one Member representative from each partner would conduct the review along the lines of the proposed brief and report to the Joint Management Committee on 28 February 2005. It was agreed that a Policy Officer in the Recreation and Heritage Business Development Unit from Hampshire coordinate the process and undertake initial research.

1.1 To date meetings have been held with Officers only from Dorset, Christchurch and Hampshire and a meeting of Officers from each partner scheduled in April to discuss the future strategic direction for the development of the Red House. It is proposed that a Working Party meeting with Members follow this meeting. This draft report outlines some of the background research and ideas emerging for Members of the Joint Management Committee to comment on.

1.2 The present Curator of the Red House will retire in May this year. Interim arrangements are proposed by Hampshire to cover this vacancy rather than filling the post immediately pending the outcome of the full Hampshire Museums Service Review. It is proposed that the Curator and the Education Officer from the St. Barbe Museum will provide the outreach, and professional support to the Red House Museum.

2 Summary

2.1 In discussions Dorset and Christchurch Officers have expressed very similar views on many aspects;

· Budget position - a standstill position with inflation increase only but committed to future support and neither view the budget as under threat. Both acknowledge the increase in visitor numbers due to the free admission but express concern at the loss of admissions income

· There is a need for greater officer liaison outside the JMC for strategic planning and agreeing a forward development plan for the Red House

· Acknowledgement of the many improvements made over the last few years, but feel the Red House still has too much of an old-fashioned feeling that can make visitors feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. More improvements are needed to make exhibits accessible, hands-on, interactive, appealing to children, to create space, and to improve presentation

· Greater identity and community ownership and involvement is key to the future. There is a need for more involvement of volunteers and to look at staffing roles and alternatives

· Recognise the benefits of Hampshire's role as Trustee and provider of professional services for the Red House. Sharing of the capital costs gives a good return on investment and favour retention of existing partnership arrangements. Neither able to see another viable option for the Red House but full appreciation of Hampshire's input expressed.

· Positive approach to change of role for the Curator - outreach/educational role

· More research/survey work needed to inform decisions on the future development plans

3 Purpose and function of the Red House Museum

3.1 Research and Survey evidence

3.2 The research and statistical evidence currently available are;

· the Visitor Attractions Survey carried out from August to October 2001 by Miller Associates

· the visits in person statistics collated for the Best Value Performance Indicator 170b

· the analysis of income and visits carried out to assess the success of the recently introduced free admission period.

3.3 The Miller research was a very small sample of only 258 visitors to the Museum though the trends identified seem to confirm the accepted anecdotal evidence; that a large proportion of the visitors are white, middle class and in the 35 plus age groups

· 41% of visitors were in the 55 plus age group

· 71% of visitors were in the 35 plus age group

3.4 There was some attempt to analyse where visitors came from by areas suggesting that a significant number of visitors are from the BH area outside Hampshire i.e. Dorset and Bournemouth, and that many visitors were living or staying within a 30 minute radius. Of the user satisfaction elements in the survey, the poorer performing aspects of catering, toilets and facilities for children have all been improved to some degree since the survey. There is no recent survey evidence of the opinion of non-users/residents.

3.5 Analysis of Visitor figures, free admission and trends

3.6 Visitors: Free admission period June-December 2004

· Visits for 2004-5 could exceed 20,000 if Feb-Mar 2005 figures show an increase on the previous year due to the free admission. Currently heading for a 35-40% increase on 2003/4 visits but a 25% decline in takings from the shop and loss of the admission fees.

· The free admission `trial' started in June 2004 has halted the decline in visits in person

· The decline over the previous 3 years from 2000/01 to 2003/4 for this 10 month (Jan-Oct) period comparison was -20%.

· Visits during the free admission period are up 43% on the previous year and higher than the average for the same period for the last 4 years.

· Visitors in the paying category form about one third of the in-person visitors and have increased by 86% in the period from June to Dec 2004

3.7 A crude analysis of the average number of visits per hour indicates how imperceptible changes in visits can be on a day to day basis, which is only revealed in the full monthly and annual counts. The initial impact of the free admission will undoubtedly plateau and cost recovery of the lost admission fees will be needed from other sources. Continuation of the free admission for the next financial year is possible through a sponsorship grant for the exhibition area.

3.8 Recommendations

1. Free admission has been successful in increasing visits in person (although there are many other contributory factors to the visitor trends such as weather and the exhibitions programme) and should be continued

2. Investigate other means of recovering the lost income such as sponsorship of exhibitions, paintings sales percentages/commission, shop sales, donations to the Friends of the Red House and bequests, hiring of facilities for other uses

3. Conduct user and non-user research surveys possibly via Christchurch Borough Council residents or Tourism survey to inform future development

3.9 Staff and Opening hours

There are 3 full-time staff: a Curator with a strategic development role in the SE Hants area but currently largely based at the Red House (due to retire in May 2005), an operational Manager and a museum assistant totalling 111 staff hours. Six part-time staff provide an additional 85 hrs making a total of 196 paid staff hours with three staff on duty at any one time. All staff are employed by Hampshire County Council. Almost two thirds of the annual budget (c.£108,000) are the staff costs plus a percentage of Museums HQ staff support.

3.10 The present staff structure and numbers, although generous compared to some museums, still do not allow enough flexibility and opportunity for outreach work, visits to schools etc by museum professionals. A strategic plan for the future development of Museum services in the SW Hants area is currently in preparation, which will draw on the services of the Curator of St.Barbe's Museum in Lymington in conjunction with the Education Officer role based there to provide an improved exhibition and education service to the Red House as well as greater benefit and value to the residents of Hampshire over a broader area.

3.11 The Museum is presently open to the public for 38 hours per week all year round over 6 days (7 hrs/day Tue-Sat and Sun 2-5, closed Christmas/New Year period). Opening on the Christchurch Monday Market day has been tried and proved unsuccessful. It was considered not worth the additional staffing resources and opening 7 days per week stretched existing staff hours too far. This was raised as an issue by the Christchurch Borough Council Scrutiny Committee in March 2004. Seasonal opening has not previously been considered effective as this is a year-round tourist area, especially for day-trips and short breaks, and there is some benefit in being able to promote consistent opening times.

3.12 Recommendations

A long-term strategy for the future staffing and access hours should consider;

1. Opening later/longer hours in the summer months and closing earlier in winter (4.00pm?)/seasonal opening/longer opening in the school holidays. Thereby focussing more resources in the busier tourist season.

2. `Core' opening hours that may retain flexibility to facilitate outreach work and special site visits

3. Extending Sunday opening hours

4. Further analysis of trends from the hourly statistics of visits or survey work (Hub funding may be available for survey work)

5. Reorientation of the Red House Curator post as part of a team of professional support to Museums throughout the New Forest area through the Hampshire Museums Service Review. This will free the Curator from day to day operational commitments. Some debate on the scope of the geographical area for outreach delivery is needed.

6. Longer-term development of a more flexible approach to staffing - seasonal staff/volunteers - to free Curator and assistant time to develop outreach, collections and exhibitions

4 Role in the Strategic Plans of the Partner Authorities

4.1 The strategic priorities of each partner supporting the Red House need to be clarified, re-aligned and understood by all. The partner Officers have indicated willingness to attend strategic development meetings of Officers on a regular basis to steer the future development and fully engage all partners in making a contribution to the Red House. The risks to each partner should be identified and managed and any amendments required to the Joint Management Agreement included in a re-written Constitution.

4.2 Significance for Hampshire

4.3 The Red House Collection itself has a greater strategic importance to Hampshire Museums Service than the building and the geographical location of that building. As guardian of the collection Hampshire is better able to fulfil the requirements for storage, preservation, conservation, documentation, registration and making the collection accessible. Neither Dorset or Christchurch Council are in a position to provide the professional services as custodian of the collection.

4.3.1 However, the role of `guardian' could be provided as a contractual arrangement (Service Level Agreement) under the present arrangements or to an `independent' Trust, another sole Trustee or as a joint Trustee. The alternative options would mean some loss of control over the collection. Dorset and Christchurch have indicated that they are happy that Hampshire continues as the sole Trustee and see little to gain from any change to this position.

4.3.2 The Collection forms an integral part of the Hampshire Museums Collections and items from the Red House have over the years been fully integrated with other collections. The nature of the chronological, typographical and themed storage of collections means that it is virtually impossible to extricate the original collection and would involve considerable time, cost and effort. Charitable Trust law would require that any items added to the Trust's Collection since 1971 purchased from the revenue of the Red House would have to remain with the Red House Museum Trust were Hampshire ever to completely withdraw from the Red House management and it would be virtually impossible to identify these items.

4.3.3 The Collection is vital to permanent displays and touring exhibitions at several Museums across Hampshire providing much of the unique material on display. 20% of the Milestones displays are from the Red House Collection. While it is difficult to put accurate percentages on items currently displayed, the disruption, the work involved, and cost to remove these would be enormous. Great cost in time and effort, and financial cost to put together new displays and exhibitions to replace them would be incurred.

4.4 Geographical location and tourism in South East Hampshire

4.4.1 The Druitt Collection, Druitt buildings and the town of Christchurch are an integral part of the history of the `historic County of Hampshire'. The town of Bournemouth barely existed until the late 18<sup>th</sup> century and the whole area was part of Hampshire until 1974. Much of the geological and natural history collections, collected in the early 19<sup>th</sup> century are relevant to the `Hundred' of Christchurch that included Hordle, Milford and Milton. This may need to be made more explicit in the exhibitions and displays in the Museum, expanding the remit to cover the SW corner of the New Forest. Christchurch as part of the historic county of Hampshire is included in the Hantsphere digitisation project.

4.4.2 The development of the tourist economy, audience development, the `spend and stay' tourist trade and tourists within local travel distance are important to SW Hants and the New Forest. Christchurch is a natural centre for the tourist coastal strip from the New Forest to Bournemouth and Poole and both local and holiday visitors gravitate to Christchurch. The tourist nature of the area and the high proportion of the population in the older age groups suggests a potential audience for Museums that is growing and always likely to be available.

4.4.3 However, because it is a strong tourist area, the Red House Museum has to be able to compete with many other leisure, cultural, heritage and educational opportunities in the area and to encourage repeat visits. Local Government reorganisation is still an issue that central government will re-visit after the general election and any changes to the Dorset/Hampshire/New Forest/Bournemouth authorities could affect the future location and support for the Red House.

4.5 Partnership agreement, financial management and the Constitution

4.5.1 The Joint Management Agreement has been formally and successfully operating since 1988 with few political or confrontational problems. The financial contribution of the 3 partners split equally (c.£50,000pa each) to the central Hampshire Museums Service is significant. District Council partners contributed £866,500 to the Hampshire Museums Service in 2004/5 forming 30% of the total net service cost. The £100,000 from Dorset and Christchurch forms 8.6% of this to manage the Red House Museum and Collection and contributing to the other services and processes provided by the HQ Museums Service team.

4.5.2 The loss of the Collection and this financial contribution from the Red House partnership would impact greatly on the work of the central Museums Service. These resources would have to be reimbursed to the central Museums budget to maintain the service. It would not be a saving. The expenditure by Hampshire buys services for Hampshire residents in the same way that partnership support through funding supports other organisations, both outside and inside the county (e.g. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, a number of theatres also grant supported).

4.5.3 There is a guidance document for developing the constitutional and structural framework of Partnership agreements developed by the Hampshire County Council Treasurers department. The Red House could be subject to a full risk management assessment against the principles in this guidance to provide a basis for recommending continued support, examining the financial risks and risks to the reputation of the County Council whether by its own actions or the threat of withdrawal by another partner. This would identify any anomalies or weaknesses in the existing Constitution.

4.5.4 Some anomalies and omissions in the 1988 Joint Management Agreement Constitution have already been identified through discussions with Officers that need to be addressed and more clearly defined;

· The procedures for the agreement of additional capital expenditure (principle of sharing capital costs) The costs were shared of the £30,000 Access improvements.

· The budget approval and inflation increase approval processes

· The withdrawal of financial commitment is not presently tied to the length of notice (30 months) of withdrawal by any partner

· The existing agreement expires in 2013. A full review now would provide an opportunity to extend for a further 25 years or at least beyond 2013.

· There may be a need for explicit agreement of risk management responsibilities and ownership (service delivery and reputation, operational, financial), options

· If no quorum present, notes are taken and put forward for confirmation at the next meeting or circulated to Members if urgent - this has become established practice

· Attendance by Members can be poor due to other commitments

4.6 Hampshire Museums Service status and reputation

4.6.1 There are few comparable County Museums Services in England and Hampshire's Museums and Archives Service has a national and regional reputation recognized in its nominated role as the lead partner in the SE Museums Hub. Weakening the quality of the County collection and withdrawing support for a local museum would be damaging to the status of the Hampshire Museums Service. The financial support from the SE Museums Hub is vital. Any adverse media coverage for any decision made in relation to the future management of the Red House could be potentially very damaging for the County Council and other partners.

5 Significance for Christchurch

5.1 Despite a difficult financial situation for Christchurch Borough Council with £400,000 cuts on a £10 million budget, there has to date been no problems with approval of the contribution to the Red House. This is despite other leisure provision in the town having been subject to cuts such as the Regent Centre. Like Dorset, the equilibrium of the partnership is seen as providing the best future for the museum, its financial support and management.

5.2 However, Christchurch Officers recognise the scope for development of the management, presentation and promotion of the museum suggesting the more interactive, friendly and welcoming Priest House at Wimborne as a model. Christchurch Officers perceive a need for more user and non-user survey (opening hours, seasonal opening, Mondays, volunteer involvement, facilities etc). Closer Officer liaison in strategic management meetings may provide an opportunity for the Red House to be included in any future Christchurch residents surveys or tourism surveys and help to incorporate the Red House and related issues on other agendas within the Borough Council.

5.3 Tourism is undoubtedly economically very important to Christchurch and the museum seen as an important part of the overall provision in the town. The Druitt name and buildings form part of the Cultural Heritage of the town and of the tourism attractions in the town. There are key buildings in Christchurch that form the character of the town and community and the Red House, with the Priory, Town Hall, and Library is part of that.

5.4 While the old Poor House building and garden have undoubted charm and interest, the plans currently being investigated for building a brand new Christchurch Local Heritage Centre behind the library building in Druitt gardens could pose a significant threat to the future of the Red House unless a partnership is developed. A local business has expressed interest in funding the building but there may be a danger that Christchurch may not in future be able to support both.

5.5 Christchurch Officers would be in favour of the rotation of the chairmanship of the JMC and would also like to see more Officer meetings to develop a more dynamic strategy as the JMC meets only 3 times per year and appears to perform more of a reporting and confirming function.

5.6 The future of the Red House depends on developing a greater community identity and involvement, even greater involvement of volunteers of which there are plenty in Christchurch, and improving relations with the other local history organisations.

6 Significance for Dorset

6.1 Dorset does not have a comparable County Museums Service with the role and remit of the Hampshire Museum Service able to provide the storage, preservation and documentation services and professional support. All the museums in Dorset including the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester are Independent Trusts. The availability of these services from Hampshire is viewed as a great advantage for a collection the size of the Red House Museum Trust. Dorset has only one dedicated post of County Museums Advisor and responsibility for Museums and Archives is subsumed in the Corporate Services Directorate under the Head of Cultural Services.

6.2 The Red House Museum is the second largest Museums budget commitment for Dorset, after the Dorset County Museum, and is considered strategically important to Museum and Cultural Services development in the east of Dorset in conjunction with the Wimborne Museum.

6.3 There have in the past been some differences in budget setting procedures between Hampshire and Dorset Councils and this may need more clearly defining for inclusion in a re-written Constitution. Officers from Dorset have expressed concern about the loss of income from the free admission and how this is to be recovered and free admission funded in future. Dorset Museums and Archives also face budget constraints as a result of the financial settlement, therefore its position would be `standstill' on the budget for the Red House with little prospect of increasing contributions which may restrict the opportunities for developing the service.

6.4 However, Dorset are keen to develop closer Officer liaison between the partners at a strategic level. Not just in relation to the Red House Museum, but to explore the potential to learn from each other, and also to increase liaison via the Dorset Museums Association (DMA). The Red House Museum Curator is presently Secretary of the DMA. Increased Officer liaison and the further development of the 'outreach' role of the curator post are viewed as key to the future development of the Red House within the scope of a wider role for the Curator in the New Forest. However, the importance of a 'face' of identity locally in the town for the Red House is needed to strengthen the community identity of the Museum.

6.5 Dorset officers would like to see greater development of a sense of local ownership and community identity for the Red House. This may be achieved through an increased use of volunteers to cover some of the opening hours. The present staffing by paid staff appears generous to a county where most of the museums are run by volunteers with only 2 staff at a time. There is possibly a need for a longer-term cultural change in the operational management of the Museum.

6.6 Regarding the future potential of the Red House there was some discussion over the impact of the name 'Red House'. Perhaps Christchurch Museum at the Red House or something of this ilk may provide a stronger identity as a museum telling the history of Christchurch. The Red House is seen by Dorset as having `pathfinder' potential, because of its size and position in a strong tourist centre it offers more opportunity for development. The change to the BVPI formula means the full visit count is now included in the BVPI for Dorset and Christchurch instead of 1/3 as before. Defining a future direction for the development of the Red House requires more research to find out about the users and the nature of use to set future priorities, better targeting, branding and promotion.

6.7 Dorset has a Service Level Agreement with Bournemouth and communicates on Heritage matters with the partner authority via a Heritage Forum. This kind of forum may provide a model to involve NFDC, Bournemouth and Poole in the development of the Red House and generally in cultural provision. (other interested organisations could be involved such as the Local History Society and representatives from the Friends of the Red House)

6.8 The present Collection Policy for the Red House Museum to some extent confuses what the Red House Trust Collection originally covered (i.e. old Hampshire) with a definition for the future collecting policy and requires revision with input from all partners.

6.9 The Resources Room at the Museum contains a wealth of information, cuttings, maps and photographs. The idea of a shared location for these resources with the Local History Collection, presently located in an upstairs room at the Druitt Christchurch library would be of interest to Dorset. Ideally these should be in one location but further research is needed about the level of use of both; is it the same people? Further discussions with other interested parties would require sensitive handling. The Local History Collection is managed by the volunteers of the Christchurch Local History Society though a significant number of these archive documents are owned by the Red House Trust.

7 Role in Cross-sector operations

7.1 It may be said that the Red House benefits more from its relationship with Hampshire Museums and Archives Service for the professional services that Hampshire is able to provide than with the other partners.

8 Role in Cross-regional operations

8.1 Christchurch is situated in the South-West region of the MLAC but Hampshire is in the SEMLAC. The Red House is potentially in a position to benefit from a relationship with both regional organisations.

8.2 Relationship with other Local Authorities

8.3 Wick Tumulus

9 Other Stakeholders and Users

Local Community and Volunteer groups

Friends of the Red House Museum - made financial contribution to the development of displays from the `Friends of the Red House Trust'. Volunteers work with the Resource room collection.

Christchurch Local History Society

Christchurch Antiquarians

Christchurch Community Partnership

Adult Education groups

10 Future Role of the Red House - Ideas and potential

· Donations and bequests - Benefits of Gift Aid?

· Friends of the Red House donations - promote and increase

· Garden potential - open out of hours, for events, National Garden scheme, partnership with Garden Centre/DIY sponsor/Hilliers, open access via the Garden

· Develop a theme for the Museum? Costume - develop as a special collection

· Fusee Chain making

· Sponsorship of major exhibitions by local businesses = community ownership

· Use of Volunteers in service delivery capacity

· Potential for co-location of facilities - discuss with partners - Local History collection and the Resource room

· Survey/research use/needs of users and non-users

· Greater physical hands-on, interactive access to exhibits, participation, learning, discovery.

· Workshops - conservation

· Work experience - conservation, tourism, cultural services in New Forest

· Education room like St. Barbes - space to make a mess and be noisy!

· Taster Exhibitions in other local venues -libraries, village schools, CBC lobby, sports centre

· Explore potential for external funding for projects - grant money through volunteer run organisations (e.g. Friends)

· Explore performance measures (visits, website, enquiries) - what are the crucial indicators and outcomes?

· Fall in educational/school visits - how can this be tackled?

· Identify scope/type of work that could be done by more volunteers and how to manage volunteers

· What function is the JMC actually providing?

· Reduce to 2 floors, open out space, link to other attractions in proximity, walk trail, entrance via garden/just to garden/exterior areas

· Reading room for education and research needs improving and relocating to the ground floor.

· Physical access to the upper floors for ambulant disabled - lift/building modifications

11 Option for the future Management of the Red House

11.1 The Red House Museum was an Independent Trust before Hampshire took over the management in 1971 and was financially supported by the local authorities before then. There are many theoretical advantages of Independent Trust status but the lack of revenue funding would probably not make this viable without the continued financial support of the partner authorities. The St. Barbe Museum is an example of an Independent Trust in an unstable financial position.

11.2 Any changes to the Trustee status or Charity scheme would have to be notified and legally drafted in accordance with Charity Commission process.

The official name in the existing scheme is the Red House Museum and Art Gallery. Obligation to provide gallery facilities but not the garden? The publicity materials refer to the Red House Museums and Gardens.

11.3 A revamped Joint Management Agreement Constitution is needed to put the Red House on a sound footing for future development and forward planning to enable it to serve the needs of the present and future users of the Museum in the next 25 years.

Action Plan

1. Directional signs for car and pedestrian access - require replacement and improvement as an urgent action

2. Recovery of lost income due to free admission

3. Strategic development meetings of officers from the 3 partner authorities - future planning and awareness of capital improvements and service development

Joint Management arrangements legislation:

Local Government Act 2000 Section 20

Local Government Act 1972 Section 101

Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions (England) Regulations 2000 Regs 12 (3) & (4)

Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) Modifications of Enactments and Further Provisions) England Order, 2001

Charities Act 1960

Websites

www.communigate.co.uk/dorset www.dorsetcc.gov.uk/

www.christchurch.gov.uk www.christchurchtourism.info

www.swuklink.com www.christchurchmatters.org

www.hants.gov.uk/museums/

www.visitchristchurch.co.uk

www.e-christchurch.co.uk