Wirral Transport Museum and Heritage Tramway

News has reached me that the museum and tramway will close from tomorrow night, the tramway having already seen it's last tram in operation.
This is by order of Wirral Council, owners of the site.
Does anyone know if there is a specific issue? For some time the council have been concerned about the cost, but most of the site and operations were run by volunteers.

 

From their Facebook page, a comment by Wirral Council.

"Wirral Transport Museum and Tramway will be temporarily closed to allow for maintenance works to take place.

This is ahead of a scheduled inspection by the Office of Rail and Road next week. It is anticipated that the facilities will reopen following that inspection."

Hmmm....

 

Well, it's good to see it coming back, but if I were a former volunteer I'd feel thoroughly un-welcomed by that press-release.

Tbh, I get the h&s point, and I get the diversity point, but that to me it reads "you old codgers can kindly b*gger off once we've milked you for knowledge and we'll run it all with graduates with heritage degrees who know the square root of naff all about the historical context".

I've often argued for the "suits", as a lot of volunteers do need to realise what was done before can't be done again, but this looks an example of the precise opposite.

 

Not sure I read it quite that way - but much will depend on both the organisation and volunteers' implementation of this.

 

Sadly there is a lack of communication from there.
As a 'neighbour' group (Wirral O Gauge Group), we have invited them several times to join forces on Open Days, even offered catering when their own was stopped.
Never even had the courtesy of a reply!

 

To me it reads as typical local authority 'touchy-feely' bull$hit. It will open with hype and fanfare but, after a couple of years, the cost of a large paid staff/general upkeep will make it very vulnerable to the next round of council budget cuts. We've seen it before where local councils were involved - remember Transperience?
Ray.

 

And the latest: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-67563822
The discovery of "hazardous substances risks" stopped a museum from reopening, a heritage organisation has said.

Wirral Transport Museum closed on 20 April ahead of an inspection by a health and safety watchdog and was expected to reopen afterwards.

However, "significant contraventions of health and safety law" were found.

Big Heritage said the closure was an "inconvenience, but no inconvenience supersedes public safety and the risk to life of visitors and volunteers".

While a prohibition notice was not issued by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) at the time of the inspection, Big Heritage said procedures had been put in place "to monitor and record a range of health and safety and control of hazardous substances risks."

'Frustrated'
The company, which finalised its takeover of the museum on 17 November from Wirral Council, also said a model railway donated 20 years ago was removed as it posed a serious fire risk and was in a poor state of repair.

It is now seeking to raise between £5m and £6m to transform the museum, including doubling its size.

In a statement on its website, Big Heritage, which also manages the Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool, said: "We have every sympathy with volunteers and visitors who have been frustrated at this situation.

"But we can attest that Wirral Council took the results of the inspection very seriously and have spent considerable time and resources to address the issues raised as quickly as possible."

A Wirral Council spokesperson said: "Ahead of the transfer of the building, there were several issues identified by the council and the ORR report that needed to be addressed and which required the facility to remain closed so the work could be carried out safely.

"The security and upkeep of the building is now in the hands of Big Heritage CIC, while the council-owned heritage trams are on loan to them, with specific contractual requirements around their safety, security and maintenance.

"The council is committed to providing ongoing support to all parties with an interest in the future success of the Wirral Transport Museum."