The Herbert (Art Gallery & Museum)

The Herbert "faces permanent closure"

Coventry is considering applying to become the City of Culture. Coventry is considering the closure of the Belgrade and the Herbert. Have I missed something in the translation??

Add the potential closure of some libraries next year and I would say that the culture bid would be a dead duck.

They won't be happy until it's a 'dead city'. I am shocked to read about the Herbert.

This city of culture bid is turning into a joke with no performing arts and museum.

They could stop the bid and save even more money.

The news about the Herbert is somewhat alarming and terrible if true.

Sadly they know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Would closing The Herbert also mean that we'd lose access to our historic records?

I think they were housed in the library prior to the History Centre opening

The council disgust me!!!!!! They seem to spend all of taxpayers' money continually digging up pavements, changing road layouts for no reason, demolishing loved buildings and putting up buildings nobody wants.

Hi all A glance at the CCC working budget for the current year, shows the two items of expenditure that are way out in front of anything & everything else. Quote: (figures in £000) (6,099) Business, Enterprise & Employment 15,254 (24,249) (8,995) 60,302 Children & Young People 87,978 (11,011) 76,967 1,941 Community Dev't, Co-operatives & Social Enterprise 2,124 0 2,124 515 Community Safety & Equalities 167 0 167 10,228 Culture, Leisure, Sports & Parks 9,896 (1,090) 8,806 14,260 Education 243,425 (230,727) 12,698 77,803 Health and Adult Services 121,177 (51,481) 69,696 11,351 Policing & Equalities 12,106 (2,290) 9,816 674 Policy and Leadership 1,008 (133) 875 20,117 Public Services 33,944 (13,287) 20,657 10,561 Strategic Finance and Resources 128,843 (120,773) 8,070 201,653 TOTAL CABINET MEMBER PORTFOLIO'S 655,922 (455,041) 200,881 26,378 Borrowing & Investments 28,885 (6,384) 22,501 4,032 Contingencies & Corporate Budgets 5,617 (12,643) (7,026) 16,923 Levies From Other Bodies 15,658 15,658 5 Parish Precepts 5 5 7,000 Revenue Contribution to Capital Spend 7,000 7,000 2,514 Contributions to / (from) Reserves 5,630 (6,292) (662) 258,505 NET BUDGET AFTER SPECIFIC GRANTS, FEES & CHARGES 718,717 (480,360) 238,357 They are: Children & Young People & Health and Adult Services. They comprise the costs which almost dwarf everything else added together. The capital costs of civic developments, like Corporation St, are being met by & dictated by Europe, which our council have little or no control over. It's the social services costs which are spiralling, which every council in our land is facing. Source Info from CCC

You are right, Philip. It is absolutely laughable that people think the council want to close down things like the Herbert or the Belgrade just for the fun of it. They have absolutely no choice in the matter. Imagine the outcry if the Herbert were kept open while they allowed people to die because of it - that's what they are faced with. They are entirely at the mercy of a government that truly does know the price of everything and the value of nothing. We don't deserve to have a City of Culture anywhere in Britain while we have these philistines running the show. It is the same everywhere in the country, irrespective of the political colour of the councils concerned.

I would like to see a breakdown of the salaries and pensions the councillors pay themselves, also was it not reported that the Chief Executive was paid more than the Prime Minister? At the moment I live abroad, and have done so for a number of years, so I am not fully conversant with Council matters, so can anybody tell me why the Council, in this time of cutbacks, are spending money on a new Council Office? Regards.

I cannot find the words to express my opinion on this without offending other members so maybe one of these will do

Or the flipside. Why should taxpayers support a venue that's not viable and doesn't attract visitors? This seems to be the whole problem here. Not only unviable, but stuck in an unsuitable building that's dark, gloomy and somewhat cramped. The new extension is mainly wasted space. The most interesting thing there is the medieval cellar, but that's never open. I don't go there because it's not a great museum and there's not really much there. Occasionally there's something decent on (we went to an excellent 'night at the museum' a few years back, and the George Shaw exhibition was superb, but other stuff has been dismal and poor), but they are few and far between. Sounds to me like the place needs a new leadership to bring it back to life and draw more things in that will attract people (like the recent Children's TV exhibition) - and ditch that huge permanent exhibition about Coventry. If people aren't interested in it there's no point having such a huge space dedicated to it!