A campaign has been launched in opposition to Enfield Council's plan to make money-saving changes to the operation of the Museum and Archive Services (see this earlier article).
'Enfield 229' or the "Unofficial Friends of Museum and Archive Services" have issued a four-page bulletin outlining their fears about the impact of the proposed changes. They accuse the Council of a lack of frankness about the proposals, in particular the failure to mention that four and a half experienced personnel would be replaced by two new and more junior staff.
They summarise their demands as follows:
"We would like the cabinet of the Council to review the proposals to close the open archives and the main museum exhibition area. In particular to reconsider the vast % cut on staff teams currently standing at four and a half posts.
"We would like the councillors in charge to invest in more open discussions with its stakeholders, public and supporters in order to consider new ways in which the museum and archives might draw in additional support through other means. We have some suggestions and will be happy to discuss them.
"If necessary we would like to see an increase in the council tax by 56p per citizen."
56p being what they claim is the total cost of the museum and archive services per person in the borough per year.
Click on the image to read the bulletin
Why "Enfield 229"?
"Enfield 229" comes from the reference number of one of the oldest objects in the museum's collection Bd.229 - a 10,000 year old mammoth's tooth found in 1909 and displayed in Southgate Town Hall from 1914. It was so popular that it inspired the creation of the borough's first museum.