The city’s council is set to create a charitable development trust and exhibitions company
Free entry to Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall and it’s Natural History Museum could end under plans being discussed by the city’s council.
The council-owned Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion, which is on the English Heritage At Risk Register, was built in the 1580s. It was bought by Nottingham City Council in 1925 and opened its museum in 1926.
Access to the hall and museum, and its external deer park, are all currently free. Yesterday, budget proposals were revealed which would introduce an entry fee to the hall and museum to better fund its museums service. An exact number was not revealed.
Nottingham City Council shared plans which would see it set up a charitable development trust and exhibitions company, allowing it to find new revenue sources to better fund the building’s upkeep.
The new exhibitions company will be owned and controlled by the council, but it will allow the authority to claim a tax break on the costs of exhibitions, reports the BBC.
The plans will be discussed again in March before final approval.
Sam Lux, executive member for carbon reduction, leisure and culture at the city council, said the prices would be set in line with other councils as well as “organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage”, reports the BBC.
He added: “Fundamentally that charge will allow us to invest properly in the building.
“We know anecdotally from other authorities that if those kinds of really expensive beautiful buildings don’t get the investment they need they often become dilapidated and are forced to close in the long run.”
