Museum deadline set to be extended

A November deadline set by Arun District Council for Arundel Museum Society to reach its £2million-plus target for the new heritage centre in Mill Road is now likely to be put back to next May.

The council is also being recommended by its cabinet to contribute up to £85,000 towards the cost of new public toilets within the heritage centre, enabling Arun to close the existing Mill Road toilets at a saving of £5,000 a year.

Arun would also like to see a new visitor information centre provided within the museum facility.

Almost four years ago Arun’s cabinet decided to terminate the lease on the museum’s then premises at 61 High Street, Arundel, by the end of 2007, forcing the society to move its collection into storage and operate with a small-scale “History Store” cabin in the Mill Road car park.

To soften the blow, Arun agreed to give up to £300,000 towards a new building for the museum and for the council’s visitor information centre – at the time it was shared with the High Street site.

The museum society was given until November, 2010, to meet the sum donated by Arun.

The fund-raising campaign is now in full swing, but the society will not know the results of applications for substantial grants to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £880,000 and the Clore Duffield Foundation, for £300,000 until the spring, which has led to Arun being asked to extend is deadline, at next month’s full council meeting.

So far, the museum society has been awarded £102,000 by the HLF for detailed design work and costings, and is halfway to a £50,000 local fund-raising target. As well as the second HLF bid and Clore Duffield Foundation application, a further eight bids are in the pipeline to other trusts and foundations.

Arun cabinet member and Arundel councillor Paul Dendle welcomed the recommendations to the full council, adding: “The heritage centre will be an educational hub, a tourism hub and a hub for businesses in Arundel.”