Agenda item

To consider a report by the Project Manager (copy enclosed) which seeks the Committee’s observations on proposals to establish a single shared archive service for Denbighshire and Flintshire and the proposed new service delivery model

 

12.20pm – 1.05pm

The Lead Member for Housing and Communities introduced the report and appendices (previously circulated) which provided information regarding the joint archive project for Denbighshire and Flintshire, with a particular focus on the proposed new service delivery model.

 

During his introduction the Lead Member stressed that the provision of a joint Archive Service with Flintshire County Council and the development of a ‘hub and spoke’ service, subject to a successful bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), would benefit the residents of Denbighshire through the provision of a full-time Archive Service instead of the three day service that currently operated in the county.  This would be the case despite the fact that the ‘hub’ would be located in Mold because the ‘spoke’ part of the service would mean that all Denbighshire’s libraries would have access to the Service’s digital records and therefore residents would only need to attend their local library to undertake any research work, currently they were required to book an appointment to visit the County Archive in the Old Gaol in Ruthin. If, under the new model, they still wanted to access the original documentation this could still be done by attending the ‘hub’ at Mold.

 

Due to their age and fragility archive documents had to be kept under strict environmental conditions in order to preserve and safeguard them, otherwise the Service would be at risk of losing its recognised archive accreditation status.  Denbighshire and Flintshire councils were keen to develop a joint Archive Service as Flintshire had already exceeded its storage capacity whilst Denbighshire would by 2021 be in a similar situation.  In addition, the Environmental Management System in the Old Gaol in Ruthin was nearing the end of its life and it was anticipated that the cost of replacing it would be substantial, hence why it was felt that the opportunity to deliver a joint service, potentially in a state of the art purpose built building should be pursued.  Whilst the present Archive Service occupied 70% of the Old Gaol building it attracted circa 800 visitors per annum, a number of whom were repeat visits, compared to Countryside and Heritage Services visitor numbers of approximately 11,000 per year to its 30% share of the building.    

 

The Lead Member emphasised that the Council already had a commitment to use the Old Gaol for delivering its Archive Service until 2025, if the proposed ‘hub’ and ‘spoke’ service delivery model came to fruition as it would take some considerable time to deliver the project in its entirety.  In the meantime it would actively pursue potential methods for increasing the range of heritage services that could be provided there once the Archive Service had vacated its space, in conjunction with other Council heritage sites i.e. Nantclwyd y Dre and external organisations such as the National Trust.

Members were advised by the Lead Member that Ruthin Town Council had registered its disappointment that it had not been consulted about the proposal so far, but if the project did come to fruition the Service would not vacate the Old Gaol until 2025, therefore it was felt to be slightly premature to consult the Town Council at this point in time.  The priority would be to secure the £11.5m NLHF Heritage Horizons grant first.  Any bid for such a substantial amount of funding would need to be for a very special, bespoke project.  Hence the reason why Denbighshire wanted to work with Flintshire County Council to build a custom-built building next to Theatr Clwyd in Mold.  The process to apply for the grant funding had commenced as both authorities had submitted their joint expression of interest in applying for the Heritage Horizons grant to NLHF on 18 October.  By December 2019 the NLHF should inform the councils whether their expression of interest had been accepted to proceed to Stage 2 of the process, which would entail the development of a detailed project proposal and plan for submission to NLHF, who would then determine whether the project should be awarded grant funding by December 2020.  The estimated cost of delivering the project was £16,650,344 of which Denbighshire would be expected to contribute just over £2m and Flintshire £3m.  If the project was to be delivered it was crucial that £11.5m NLHF monies was secured, without this grant the project would not go ahead.  If successful and the project was delivered in its entirety, although the ‘hub’ would be located in Flintshire all records would be digitally accessible to Denbighshire residents at their local library.  It would also ‘future proof’ the Service for the next 20 years and generate an additional income of circa £12K per annum, reduce the need to pay for commercial storage for records and avoid the substantial costs associated with replacing the environmental management system at the Old Gaol.

 

The Lead Member and officers confirmed that as Wrexham County Borough Council was a ‘new’ local authority area a substantial amount of its pre-1996 records were held at the Old Gaol.  In addition, a number of historical artefacts from Denbighshire were currently held in storage at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, the development of this project would include the availability of dedicated exhibition space which would provide an opportunity to request the return of these items for display to the public.  Both the Lead Member and officers were of the view that the availability of the funding provided both local authorities with a very rare opportunity to make records, historical documents and artefacts accessible to all residents and provide schools and other establishments with excellent outreach provision to undertake research.  Community history was an integral part of the area’s identity.

Local members for the Ruthin area were invited to address the Committee regarding their concerns about the project.  The main points raised by them were:

 

·         that the Well-being Assessment for the proposed project, which was generally positive, did not give sufficient regard to the unanticipated negative impact the relocation of the Service to Mold would have on the economy of Denbighshire, and on Ruthin in particular.

·         that a substantial number of those that attended the Old Gaol to use the Service were elderly and therefore may not be able to visit the facility in Mold due to the lack of public transport to the proposed location.

·         that in their view the project had been looked at in isolation.  The proposal should include a detailed options appraisal for extending the current services available at the Old Gaol, possibly by erecting a purpose built archive storage building on the car park behind the Old Gaol.  By having the entire Archive Service and the Old Gaol heritage facility on the same site there would be an opportunity to maximise archive and tourism footfall in the town.

·         that the popularity of accessing archives and records digitally via libraries was as yet unknown, it may not be the ‘experience’ avid archivists would relish.

·         the relocation of the Archive Service to Mold would see the Ruthin area lose yet another important resource and as a result other businesses in the town and surrounding area would suffer as historians travelled from far and wide to undertake their research at the Old Gaol, staying in local hotels and spending money in the area.

·         that a number of interest groups had already contacted local councillors to register their concerns about the proposal to relocate the Service.

·         that the Council should look to grow the services available at the Old Gaol by linking them to various other tourist and heritage assets in the area rather than relocating the Archive Service to Mold.

Responding to the above the Lead Member and officers confirmed that:

 

·         the Council was fully committed to continuing to deliver an Archive Service at the Old Gaol until 2025.  Until then it would be working with the Council’s Countryside and Heritage Services with a view to securing the building’s future through the delivery of more of that’s Service’s offer from the facility once the Archive Services had vacated its space;

·         early discussions were about to begin with the National Trust both regionally and nationally with a view to exploring potential options for the site and the area in general;

·         the proposal had been discussed with the local MP and AM, both of whom were supportive of the proposals.

·         if the NLHF bid was successful and the purpose built Hub facility in Mold was built it would greatly reduce the running costs of the Archive Service, increase its opening hours from the current three day service to a six-day one and improve its accessibility to all via the libraries.  The aim of the proposal was to deliver a better, more accessible service not to enhance Theatr Clwyd.  The Archive Hub would be a separate building next to the theatre, not a part of the theatre building, although there would be opportunities for both establishments to work together to enhance outreach services, provide facilities for staff etc.

·         whilst Ruthin Gaol housed a substantial amount of Denbighshire’s Archives not all were held there, some were held in storage and others were currently held at the Flintshire Archives in Hawarden, this was due to changes in county boundaries during two local government re-organisations.

·         the most successful Archive Services in the UK were those that had outreach service provision, hence the aim of developing an active outreach service as part of this proposal with the aim of encouraging individuals, schools, community groups, care homes etc. to use the services available.

Responding to questions from Committee members the Lead Member and officers:

 

·         agreed that the benefits of establishing the proposed ‘hub’ and ‘spoke’ service needed to be highlighted to the public i.e. digital access, greater access due to the facility being open on 6 days rather than the current 3 days, more staff to assist the public with their research, more display space for local historical artefacts etc.

·         advised that only four projects in the UK would benefit from the NLHF Heritage Horizons Fund.  Hundreds of projects were expected to bid for the available monies therefore to be successful projects needed to be innovative, transformative, collaborative and aimed at addressing heritage at risk or landscapes and nature.

·         confirmed that Denbighshire with its limited staff numbers and opening hours could not provide outreach services at present.  This proposal would address that deficit.

·         advised that the Welsh Government (WG) was encouraging Archive Services to work collaboratively, but to date it was only Denbighshire and Flintshire who were demonstrating an appetite to follow this route

·         confirmed that a total of six sites had been considered initially for the development of a ‘hub’, however this site had emerged from the selection process as the preferred site.

·         advised that the Service would be run jointly by Denbighshire and Flintshire.

·         confirmed that the ultimate aim was to repatriate all local historical artefacts currently in storage at national institutions to enable residents and visitors to the area to see and enjoy them.

·         advised that all efforts were currently being channelled to secure a successful bid for the NLHF grant, there was not a ‘Plan B’ at present, the outcome of which should be known by the end of 2020.  Nevertheless, discussions were underway with Countryside and Heritage Services and external organisations with a view to enhancing the future offer at the Old Gaol that would benefit Ruthin and the surrounding area; and

·         confirmed that the establishment of the Joint Archive Service with Flintshire would take place in April 2020.

At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion Members emphasised the need to improve communication and consultation will local members on matters that had an impact on their wards and asked the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group to discuss this at a future meeting.  The Committee:

 

Resolved: - subject to the above observations –

(i)           to acknowledge the proposal to create a single shared Archive Service with Flintshire County Council, operating over two sites initially (Ruthin and Hawarden);

(ii)          by a majority to support that the Service, subject to securing National Lottery Heritage Funding, be delivered via a ‘hub and spoke model’ – a service ‘hub’ in a new building adjacent to Theatr Clwyd in Mold and the ‘spoke’ service delivery through a mix of permanent and temporary community outreach provision;

(iii)        that options be drawn up for the utilisation of the potential vacated space at Ruthin Gaol, if the proposed single shared archive service and the creation of a ‘hub’ proceeded, and that those options be presented to the Committee for consideration during the summer of 2020; and

(iv)        to confirm that as part of its consideration it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix A).

Two Committee members voted against (ii) above, but the recommendation was carried by a majority.