Closed for business?
10/04/2009
Despite the Homecoming campaign, Scotland's historic attractions are under threat. Why?
Peter John Meiklem
The sight of the tatty ‘To Let’ sign attached to National Trust for Scotland (NTS) property Hutcheson’s Hall in Glasgow city centre won’t please anybody who cares about Scottish history or heritage. Least of all, the management of the NTS who have been forced by a combination of questionable management in years gone by, and the world-wide recession right now, to if not sell the family silver then rent out part of it to the highest bidder.
Hutcheson’s Hall is one of 10 properties [see full list on next page] either facing closure, or drastic alterations to its operating hours, as the charitable organisation slashes costs in a desperate bid to safeguard its future.
Around 90 NTS employees will also lose their jobs – and for those among them who live in-house, their homes – as part of the controversial re-organisation.
The cost-cutting programme has sparked a national debate about the importance of Scottish heritage and history in 2009, the Scottish Government’s much-trumpeted year of Homecoming. Heritage and culture together is one of five areas being used to tempt back exiles, but the proposed closures have cast a shadow over government claims that the scheme will boost the tourism business – for if visitor numbers really are to rise substantially where is the sense in allowing attractions to close? Others argue that too much tax payers’ money has already been spent on heritage.
Organised to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Scotland’s national Bard, the government has invested £5.5 million in a new visitor centre at Culloden and £5.5m in Alloway’s new Burns Heritage Park, both run by the NTS. But as the renovated Burns attraction won’t be fully complete this year, it will miss the Homecoming party.
Essential repairs to the National Museum of Scotland, and re-organisation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, have also hit visitor numbers there. Then there is the controversial £12.5 million invested in the Titian painting Diana and Actaeon.
Fans of the smaller attractions are now questioning the Scottish Government and the NTS investment policy; one that favours a few big ticket items over already existing, albeit loss-making, attractions that cover the length and breadth of Scotland. Sacrificing grassroots projects in favour of one big pot is a criticism echoed in the arts, as Liz Lochhead points out on page 27 of this magazine.
The Scottish Government is unapologetic. A spokesman says, “NTS projects we funded are major capital projects providing valuable assets which will attract visitors and cover costs in the future.”
Frustrated by this stance, campaigners are staging a fightback. Local groups across Scotland are determined to raise funds, volunteers or whatever it takes to the keep attractions open.
Ted Brocklebank, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, says two of the three NTS properties in his local area are earmarked for closure. He says the strategy could have grave effects. “From all kinds of points of view these threatened closures are disastrous. We are a tourism area and to lose two gems such as Kellie Castle and Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse would be a bad result.”
He says he is doing everything he can to ensure the properties stay open, including looking at other sources of funding. He attended a meeting last week at the NTS headquarters where the organisation explained its position to MSPs from across Scotland.
“It is in nobody’s interests to see these properties mothballed. If nobody saves them they will be locked up, the dust sheets will go on, and it might be 20 or 30 years before they come off again, if ever.
“It’s ironic this is happening in the year of Homecoming. The minister dropped me a letter last week, pointing out how much they’ve spent on Culloden battlefield and the Burns Centre in Alloway. But there is a growing feeling amongst those in the trade they haven’t spent money in the right way. The Scottish Government is now giving the signal: that’s it, that’s all we are spending on this.”
While the Scottish Government is unapologetic, the Trust argues it has no choice but to follow the path it is on. It points out that of all the properties slated for closure – which total around a fifth of the organisation’s substantial resources – none come anywhere near breaking even and never have. When money is tighter than ever it can no longer support so many loss-making endeavours. Others suggest none of those threatened could be considered of real national importance.
Many on the list have low visitor numbers, some only a few thousand a year, and when forced to look at their portfolio rationally the Trust argues it cannot justify its continued involvement when it is said to be losing around £3 million a year.
But that's where the campaigners step in. Richard A Brook is chairman of the recently created Friends of Barry Mill, which he says is one of only two working old-fashioned grain mills in Scotland. He has been exploring the possibility of sponsorship by commercial flour merchant, but is frustrated at the short notice given by the Trust.
“The whole thing was sprung on us in every possible way. They put an article in their magazine Scotland in Trust about financial troubles, but it made no mention of closures. I had to read about it in the local press. They were guilty of trying to paint too rosy a picture at that stage. We don’t actually know what we need to do yet, how much we need to raise.”
Brook finds the timing of the announcement, on a national scale, puzzling. “I find it all very strange,” he says. “We hear about Homecoming, and an increase in overseas visitors. Why then, when there is a reasonable expectation till receipts and NTS memberships will be going up, has the announcement been made this year? The government must be disappointed the message is now going out that we don’t value our heritage enough to keep it open.”
Calum Ross, head of the Arduaine Action Group, says the local community was left in “shock and disbelief” when the gardens, near Oban, were ear-marked for closure. He says if it goes ahead it will be a bitter blow for tourism. “It makes no sense at all. What we need here are more visitor attractions, not less. The tourism and business communities are united in their concern about the closure.”
He says there is bad feeling towards the Scottish Government. “I have heard it said that if they have tens of millions to buy a painting, surely they can help the NTS dig itself out of the hole it’s in.”
April is when many attractions open their doors for a new season. Eva McDiarmid, chief executive of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, says although there is a “mixed bag” of concerns the picture is far from universally bleak. After last year’s bad weather washout, she says many of Scotland’s privately run attractions – such as Jacobite Cruises on Loch Ness or the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh – reported an increase in visitors over the first two months of this year.
So the battle is far from lost. Recent events in Stirling, one of Scottish tourism’s heartlands, will also give campaigners cheer. Despite a plethora of enviable sites such as Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, a decision was taken earlier this year to close the Old Town Jail, one of its lesser-known attractions. Breadlabane Folklore Centre in Killin, near Aberfeldy, was also slated for closure.
Despite local outcry, and knock-on effects such as the local guided bus tour operator calling it a day, Stirling District Tourism argued it couldn’t keep them open, claiming it was struggling with a 15 per cent drop in visitors to the Wallace Monument.
However, the situation was reversed when the local council voted through a last-minute £40,000 funding package to secure the two attractions’ futures, in the short term at least. “To be quite honest, closure was not an option,” says Councillor Scott Farmer, deputy leader of Stirling Council. “We made sure there was enough money put aside when we voted through the budget. Tourism is such a valuable business in Stirling and we want to make the visitor experience as positive as possible.”
Stories such as these will give hope to groups across Scotland gearing up for their own fight for funds. However, in these straightened times it’s by no means certain all local authorities will be willing, or able, to help. Not that that will dissuade campaigners; for some there’s simply too much at stake.
“I’m very optimistic; I would be sitting at home now otherwise,” says Maurice Wilkins, Arduaine’s head gardener. “I refuse to accept it. The garden is too important to close. We will keep battling right up until the final whistle.”
The sight of the tatty ‘To Let’ sign attached to National Trust for Scotland (NTS) property Hutcheson’s Hall in Glasgow city centre won’t please anybody who cares about Scottish history or heritage. Least of all, the management of the NTS who have been forced by a combination of questionable management in years gone by, and the world-wide recession right now, to if not sell the family silver then rent out part of it to the highest bidder.
Hutcheson’s Hall is one of 10 properties [see full list on next page] either facing closure, or drastic alterations to its operating hours, as the charitable organisation slashes costs in a desperate bid to safeguard its future.
Around 90 NTS employees will also lose their jobs – and for those among them who live in-house, their homes – as part of the controversial re-organisation.
The cost-cutting programme has sparked a national debate about the importance of Scottish heritage and history in 2009, the Scottish Government’s much-trumpeted year of Homecoming. Heritage and culture together is one of five areas being used to tempt back exiles, but the proposed closures have cast a shadow over government claims that the scheme will boost the tourism business – for if visitor numbers really are to rise substantially where is the sense in allowing attractions to close? Others argue that too much tax payers’ money has already been spent on heritage.
Organised to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Scotland’s national Bard, the government has invested £5.5 million in a new visitor centre at Culloden and £5.5m in Alloway’s new Burns Heritage Park, both run by the NTS. But as the renovated Burns attraction won’t be fully complete this year, it will miss the Homecoming party.
Essential repairs to the National Museum of Scotland, and re-organisation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, have also hit visitor numbers there. Then there is the controversial £12.5 million invested in the Titian painting Diana and Actaeon.
Fans of the smaller attractions are now questioning the Scottish Government and the NTS investment policy; one that favours a few big ticket items over already existing, albeit loss-making, attractions that cover the length and breadth of Scotland. Sacrificing grassroots projects in favour of one big pot is a criticism echoed in the arts, as Liz Lochhead points out on page 27 of this magazine.
The Scottish Government is unapologetic. A spokesman says, “NTS projects we funded are major capital projects providing valuable assets which will attract visitors and cover costs in the future.”
Frustrated by this stance, campaigners are staging a fightback. Local groups across Scotland are determined to raise funds, volunteers or whatever it takes to the keep attractions open.
Ted Brocklebank, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, says two of the three NTS properties in his local area are earmarked for closure. He says the strategy could have grave effects. “From all kinds of points of view these threatened closures are disastrous. We are a tourism area and to lose two gems such as Kellie Castle and Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse would be a bad result.”
He says he is doing everything he can to ensure the properties stay open, including looking at other sources of funding. He attended a meeting last week at the NTS headquarters where the organisation explained its position to MSPs from across Scotland.
“It is in nobody’s interests to see these properties mothballed. If nobody saves them they will be locked up, the dust sheets will go on, and it might be 20 or 30 years before they come off again, if ever.
“It’s ironic this is happening in the year of Homecoming. The minister dropped me a letter last week, pointing out how much they’ve spent on Culloden battlefield and the Burns Centre in Alloway. But there is a growing feeling amongst those in the trade they haven’t spent money in the right way. The Scottish Government is now giving the signal: that’s it, that’s all we are spending on this.”
While the Scottish Government is unapologetic, the Trust argues it has no choice but to follow the path it is on. It points out that of all the properties slated for closure – which total around a fifth of the organisation’s substantial resources – none come anywhere near breaking even and never have. When money is tighter than ever it can no longer support so many loss-making endeavours. Others suggest none of those threatened could be considered of real national importance.
Many on the list have low visitor numbers, some only a few thousand a year, and when forced to look at their portfolio rationally the Trust argues it cannot justify its continued involvement when it is said to be losing around £3 million a year.
But that's where the campaigners step in. Richard A Brook is chairman of the recently created Friends of Barry Mill, which he says is one of only two working old-fashioned grain mills in Scotland. He has been exploring the possibility of sponsorship by commercial flour merchant, but is frustrated at the short notice given by the Trust.
“The whole thing was sprung on us in every possible way. They put an article in their magazine Scotland in Trust about financial troubles, but it made no mention of closures. I had to read about it in the local press. They were guilty of trying to paint too rosy a picture at that stage. We don’t actually know what we need to do yet, how much we need to raise.”
Brook finds the timing of the announcement, on a national scale, puzzling. “I find it all very strange,” he says. “We hear about Homecoming, and an increase in overseas visitors. Why then, when there is a reasonable expectation till receipts and NTS memberships will be going up, has the announcement been made this year? The government must be disappointed the message is now going out that we don’t value our heritage enough to keep it open.”
Calum Ross, head of the Arduaine Action Group, says the local community was left in “shock and disbelief” when the gardens, near Oban, were ear-marked for closure. He says if it goes ahead it will be a bitter blow for tourism. “It makes no sense at all. What we need here are more visitor attractions, not less. The tourism and business communities are united in their concern about the closure.”
He says there is bad feeling towards the Scottish Government. “I have heard it said that if they have tens of millions to buy a painting, surely they can help the NTS dig itself out of the hole it’s in.”
April is when many attractions open their doors for a new season. Eva McDiarmid, chief executive of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, says although there is a “mixed bag” of concerns the picture is far from universally bleak. After last year’s bad weather washout, she says many of Scotland’s privately run attractions – such as Jacobite Cruises on Loch Ness or the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh – reported an increase in visitors over the first two months of this year.
So the battle is far from lost. Recent events in Stirling, one of Scottish tourism’s heartlands, will also give campaigners cheer. Despite a plethora of enviable sites such as Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, a decision was taken earlier this year to close the Old Town Jail, one of its lesser-known attractions. Breadlabane Folklore Centre in Killin, near Aberfeldy, was also slated for closure.
Despite local outcry, and knock-on effects such as the local guided bus tour operator calling it a day, Stirling District Tourism argued it couldn’t keep them open, claiming it was struggling with a 15 per cent drop in visitors to the Wallace Monument.
However, the situation was reversed when the local council voted through a last-minute £40,000 funding package to secure the two attractions’ futures, in the short term at least. “To be quite honest, closure was not an option,” says Councillor Scott Farmer, deputy leader of Stirling Council. “We made sure there was enough money put aside when we voted through the budget. Tourism is such a valuable business in Stirling and we want to make the visitor experience as positive as possible.”
Stories such as these will give hope to groups across Scotland gearing up for their own fight for funds. However, in these straightened times it’s by no means certain all local authorities will be willing, or able, to help. Not that that will dissuade campaigners; for some there’s simply too much at stake.
“I’m very optimistic; I would be sitting at home now otherwise,” says Maurice Wilkins, Arduaine’s head gardener. “I refuse to accept it. The garden is too important to close. We will keep battling right up until the final whistle.”
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