The Council has been reticent to make public its plans but apparently intends to issue compulsory redundancy notices to all three professional staff at the Resource Centre on 4th February. As a direct result this facility is likely to be mothballed, thereby preventing access by those wishing to consult the collections, as has already happened in neighbouring Herefordshire.

An open public meeting is scheduled for 11.00 am on Thursday 22 January in Ludlow to invite discussion and raise questions. I have attached a copy of the press release and the poster advertising this meeting. If you are not able to attend in person and would like to raise questions or express your objection to this development, then please send them to the Council at the email addresses below.

The local press has picked up on the situation:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/12/24/ludlow-museum-staff-in-redundancy-fear/

and an extended article on the Museum Resource Centre has just been published in the latest edition of the Ludlow Ledger (Issue 5). This begins on page 1 and continues on pages 12 to 14, on this link:
http://issuu.com/ludlowledger/docs/ll5-digital_h1

The staffing problems at the Museum Resource Centre are picked up in the editorial by Jon Saxon which begins towards the bottom of column 7 on this page:
http://tiny.cc/LL5-p6-7

While the Council does at least now seem to recognise that there is a greater depth of feeling on this issue than they first realised, the staffing plan is still for all three of the current Resource Centre staff to be made redundant, to be replaced by a new appointment to a single post 2.5 days per week, with part-time administrative support from Shrewsbury. However, all geological expertise within the Council will by then have gone, including the only qualified geologist.

The Resource Centre was designed and built to allow for the long-term care of the Shropshire County Museum Service’s most important collections, including all the natural science holdings that used to be in Shrewsbury. It currently provides secure environmentally controlled storage and importantly allows public access to the collections through dedicated education and research rooms as well as providing curatorial support for museums across the region. It is of course both unreasonable and impractical to expect staff at Shrewsbury lacking experience in these scientific fields to service the needs of enquirers and researchers wishing to consult the scientific collections for the county, and it also means there will be no geological staff left to support educational sessions with schools and universities.

Meanwhile, the Ludlow Town Museum, which hitherto provided the main interface with the public, is closed pending relocation to the upper floor of the Buttercross, although it is unclear how this will be achieved since reconstruction of that building is not due to be completed until after the Resource Centre staff have left under the terms of their redundancy!  Furthermore, administration of the Town Museum is being transferred from the County to the Town Council even though our local councillor has informed us that the grant to the Town Council is to be cut by 12% in the coming financial year in order to prevent Council Tax from being increased. It is therefore difficult to see how the Town Museum will be able to afford to re-open even if the exhibition space can be filled.

I have attempted to draw the Council's attention to Shropshire being internationally famous from a geological perspective, from the pioneering studies by Arthur Aikin and Robert Townson, through Sir Roderick Murchison and his seminal Silurian System, through to the Ludlow Research Group and the International Geological Congress Silurian Commission of today. The town gives its name to the Ludlow Series, part of the Silurian System (c. 427-423 million years ago). The name Ludlow is known to geologists the world over for this reason and Shropshire hosts four of the GSSP Type Sections used as a reference internationally, not to mention the early studies by Charles Darwin.

The rocks surrounding Ludlow are richly fossiliferous and important specimens have been collected from the area over the last two centuries, in many cases from localities that are no longer accessible. Many of these specimens are housed in the Resource Centre where they are stored in a purpose built, environmentally controlled facility, managed by knowledgeable staff who can facilitate access to the specimens to researchers and others needing to examine them. This forms the foundation for fieldtrips and research work in the region undertaken by schools, universities and local community groups.

Given that the majority of the rock and fossil collection is not as yet digitally catalogued and photographed then knowledge of what is in the collection which has been built up over the last 70 years since the appointment of John Norton would be an extremely serious loss. Much work remains to be undertaken on these collections to bring their utility up to modern expectations, but to achieve this requires expert guidance as well as volunteer effort.

There is concern that these collections should receive the care and support that they deserve. There is also concern about the implications of staff redundancy for the study of natural and local history in addition to geology, where the Centre’s collections are likewise of national importance. While it is clear that Shropshire Council has to live within its straitened means, the potential loss of, or loss of access to, unique and irreplaceable collections is of grave concern.

Given an 80% reduction in staffing, how can access to and knowledge of the collections be maintained?  Indeed, how will geology be supported given the absence of anyone on the Council staff with appropriate qualifications?  The Council has not provided us with any considered response to these questions.

Views or questions relating to these issues should be submitted to Keith Barrow <[log in to unmask]>, Leader of the Council, copied (CC) to councillors Tina Woodward <[log in to unmask]> and Chris Edwards <[log in to unmask]>. It would helpful if you included your affiliation (like mine below) and silently copy it (BCC) to me before the end of this month (January) if there is to be sufficient time for the Council to withdraw its plan to issue the formal redundancy notices.

Best wishes,

Michael Rosenbaum
Emeritus Professor of Engineering Geology and Shropshire resident