Contact: Andrea Kerr ext: 01256 403900 e-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 This report sets out recent achievements at Milestones Museum, Basingstoke and identifies future action to build on this success.

1.2 Milestones Museum is the largest of the Hampshire County Council Museum Service museums. It is operated in partnership with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC), who grant fund the museum's operation under a service agreement. The museum was opened in 2000, having been built with a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the first large grant outside London.

1.3 In its first year of opening the museum was extremely successful in attracting audiences from both local and longer distances. All new visitor attractions have a honeymoon period; it is only in subsequent years that the base audience level is found. In the years since opening the visitor numbers at Milestones had declined leading to periods of financial instability. This report is to outline the recent improvement in the visitor numbers and earned income, the achievement of financial stability in 2007/08 and to indicate future action to maintain this.

2. Recommendation

2.1 To note the 20% increase in visitors to Milestones, Hampshire's Living History Museum and to approve the development plans for Milestones set out below and the setting up of an Advisory & Advocacy Board for Milestones, the Willis Museum and Basing House.

3. Current success at Milestones

3.1 In 2007/08, Milestones achieved visitor numbers of 88,338. This is an increase of 20% over the position two years earlier. Net expenditure in 2007/08 was actually 6% lower than it had been two years earlier, largely because income also increased by 20% in those two years.

3.2 Gross expenditure in 2007/08 was £1.05 million, which is almost exactly the same as the 2003/04 level. If expenditure had risen in line with inflation over that period, gross spending in 2007/08 would have been approximately £130,000 higher. As an example of how this has been achieved, staffing costs in 2007/08 were 10% lower than in 2003/04.

3.3 By contrast, income has risen by 9% in the same period. As a consequence, income represented 54% of gross expenditure in 2007/08, whereas in 2003/04 the equivalent figure was 49%. In the same period, the surplus achieved by the Milestones shop has increased by more than 66%.

3.4 The financial position in recent years indicates that Milestones has achieved financial stability, and management action is proposed to build admissions income for future years.

4. Action 2008-2010

4.1 One of the aims of the period 2008-2010 is to encourage repeat visits. This will be done by increasing the scale and attractiveness of the temporary exhibitions and events programme. Milestones is a large space capable of taking in large non-fragile national touring exhibitions. It fits well with the portfolio of other exhibition spaces being developed as part of the cultural offer for Hampshire. Milestones can admit up to 1,200 people at any one time and several points this year have seen this number achieved. There has been growth in family audiences, school parties and organised groups.

4.2 To develop this success it is proposed to recruit a Marketing and Events Manager. This will be funded by the existing central government grants from the Renaissance Hub.

4.3 The exhibition and events programme will be grown; this will be self funding from increased admissions revenue. The revenue infrastructure costs are already covered by Milestones revenue budget.

4.4 The second main aim in the period 2008-2010 will be adding attractiveness and interest to the main displays. The main displays at Milestones tell the story of Hampshire, particularly the County's record of innovation and industry in the Victorian period and during the Twentieth century. This is a story that does not stop. New collections and new ways of communicating to visitors continue to be needed, to refresh the displays, give new relevance and adapt to the needs of the school curriculum. Milestones attracts over 12,000 school children in visiting groups each year. Milestones is also particularly successful in increasing participation in audiences who do not regularly visit museums.

4.5 Milestones is successful in bringing visitors from outside Hampshire to Basingstoke. People travel up to an hour and a half, bringing people from Swindon, Oxfordshire, South London and Kent as day visitors. Milestones is a regional centre and contributes to tourism and to the public's perceptions of Hampshire and Basingstoke. As a large visitor attraction the quality of presentation is vital to attracting new and repeat visits.

4.6 A new display entitled "You must remember this ..." was built during 2007/08. It includes rooms from the 1960s and 1970s. It is an example of display using the skills and excellent collections of the museum service, bringing the story of people's lives in Hampshire more up to date. The display can engage visitors, has received very good public reaction and is the type of new development that will be undertaken in future. A Development Project is being run to prioritise developments. Milestones has received external funding, especially commercial sponsorship, raised by The Hampshire Museums and Galleries Trust. It is recommended by the Trust Director that Milestones pursue additional external funding for these developments. The new post of Marketing and Events Manager will undertake this.

5. Set up of an advisory and advocacy group for Milestones

5.1 To underpin the importance of Milestones as a regional centre contributing to Hampshire and Basingstoke it is proposed to form a single Advisory and Advocacy Board for Milestones, the Willis Museum and Basing House. The board would have no executive powers as governance of Milestones is through HCC and the service agreement monitoring with BDBC officers. The Board would include individuals with an interest in business and cultural life in Hampshire, attending meetings on a voluntary basis and receiving no remuneration. The board would be chaired by the HCC Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage, and include member and officer representatives from BDBC. The Advisory and Advocacy Board would influence developments and be ambassadors for Milestones in the wider Hampshire and regional community.

5.2 These actions are intended to put the current success of Milestones onto a sound footing for the future, to ensure continued development so that this important asset can make an even greater contribution to culture within Hampshire.

6. Financial Implications

6.1 The proposed post of Marketing and Events Manager is to be Hub-funded, and does not therefore add to the net costs of Milestones. The enhanced exhibitions and events programme will be designed to be self-funded. It is part of a programme to ensure that Milestones' position of financial stability is maintained.

7. Impact Assessment

7.1 An impact assessment will be undertaken on the new development programme.

Links to Corporate Strategy

Yes No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

Maximising well-being Yes

Enhancing our quality of place Yes

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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