WALTHAM FOREST: Cash is given to gallery after all

8:19am Thursday 14th February 2008

By Sarah Cosgrove

AN extra £133,000 is being invested in the William Morris Gallery - after the service was thrown into disarray to save £56,000 last year.

Councillors hope that a £98,000 boost will refresh the gallery and improve facilities to help attract a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

According to council documents, the extra money will help create a "dynamic community facility" after lottery executives expressed concern that there were not enough resources for curating the collection and education.

The rest of the money, £35,000, will pay for a consultant for six months to apply for the grant because, as cabinet documents admit, the "expertise not available within department so bid unlikely to be successful".

Even opening hours, the reduction of which caused an outcry last year, may be extended.

The money may be good news for the gallery but the lottery bid is far from a new idea. The gallery's former curator, Peter Cormack, said he formulated the plans around five years ago.

His vision included building an extension which would include an education centre and he, along with The Friends of William Morris Gallery, warned the cuts would jeopordise the bid.

Mr Cormack, widely cited as being the world's leading Morris expert, said: "It's a case of I told them so. During my time they gave the bid no support at all.

"There was experience there to deal with the bid, we had an excellent team. I can assure you that I was not paid £35,000, even for a year."

The Guardian asked the council why, if curatorial standards needed to be improved, it made Mr Cormack redundant but we did not get a reply.

Waltham Forest's Unison representative, Dave Knight, said the union was taking legal advice over Mr Cormack's redundancy and cuts in hours for other staff.

The cuts last year prompted an international campaign supported by, among others, Ken Livingstone and Tony Benn.

A council spokeswoman said money could be available in one year when it was not available in the preceding year and that a three-year "efficiency review" was allowing the council to invest £24 million saved in cuts to services in "ambitious new projects".

Cabinet member for arts and culture, Cllr Geraldine Reardon, said: "We believe that the changes we have made to the service will lead to a vibrant and popular museum and gallery in the future."