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Public pack meeting on fate of glass museum
Friday 24th July 2009, 11:30AM BST.
More than 80 people packed a public meeting to vent their anger against the proposed closure of a popular Black Country glass museum.
Broadfield House in Kingswinford could shut under cost-cutting plans which would mean moving the glass collection at the site to the Red House Glass Cone in Wordsley. A feasibility study is being carried out by L& R Consulting. Last night glass enthusiasts, residents, and Stourbridge MP Lynda Waltho turned out to voice their views.
During the joint meeting of Brierley Hill and Stourbridge Area Committees there were calls for a ‘world-class’ glass attraction in Stourbridge.
Chairman of the Friends of Broadfield House group, Barbara Beadman, made a passionate speech which was greeted with applause.
She said: “We have got 400 years of history and we’ve got glass to match that. We could be back on the map as a place to visit.
“Please look to the future not two years but 22 years or 90 years, which is the length of the lease on the cone.”
Concerns were raised about the suitability of the cone site and there were fears the increase in visitors could cause traffic chaos.
Dora Derby of Bracken Park Gardens, Wordsley, said: “There is no way you can have Broadfield House at the Red House Glass Cone because of the traffic. It is already a bottleneck there.”
Many people said the feasibility study was ‘too narrow’ as only the cone site was being considered.
MP Lynda Waltho said: “What we want to know is that the money we are spending on this feasibility study is not going to be wasted because there are other sites across Dudley South and Stourbridge that are possible. We think it could be a waste of money.”
Deputy council leader Les Jones said the feasibility study was only a ‘starting point’. He added: “If at the end of this process we do not have a better alternative. Broadfield House will not close. We will look elsewhere for that saving.”
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“Public pack meeting on fate of glass museum”
Presumably there wasn’t room to accommodate all the other 305,085 member of the ‘public’ in Dudley Borough waiting outside to get into the meeting?
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By the time everyone is finished there will be no leisure in Dudley and nowhere to visit.
Less libraries,swimming pools.
Filled-in caverns,closed glass museums……
Zoo fighting to have a second life.
Metro held to ransom by the central government.
Town centres dying on their feet (Stourbridge,etc.)…
Somehow or other money gets found for useless roads (half the drivers are irritated and try to avoid Brierley Hill bypass) and carparks!
The last gesture will end up being a general by-pass to avoid the shame of showing the mess to unbelieving outsiders.
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soon there will be nowhere to go and nothing to see this area is fast becoming a desert why is it that we are paying more in council tax and every year we get less u would like to know where all the money goes
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The glass museum should be moved to Dudley town centre because the town is the Heritage centre of the borough now and will be seen by more people too the council can not have it both ways!
friends of dudley town centre
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Geoff – Lately, your money is going towards improving front line services for the elderly (we have an ageing population, after all) and the disabled, as well as updating the library service to bring it into the twenty-first century (which, yes Bruce, sometimes involves closing old branch libraries that were hardly used anyway).
However, “Dudley Council refurbishes and improves day centre for the elderly in Roseville” or “Dudley Council extends opening hours at its libraries – including the first-ever Sunday openings” does seem to attract the same dramatic headlines (nor, for some strange reason, the same number of congratulatory comments on ‘Have Your Say’).
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Only problem,Steve,is that in Stourbridge Dudley is perceived as a colonial power that has reduced Stourbridge to a vassal state.If you had an opinion poll in Stourbridge I think you would find a majority of people want back into Worcestershire and Stourbridge to have its own rights back as a town……
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Steve, never in a million years should the glass heritage of Stourbridge move to Dudley. Your suggestion is an insult to the generations of Stourbridge glass people.
Dudley does not deserve consideration for something which is not theirs, dream on mate.
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And while I’m annoyed by Steve’s suggestion. Why is it that Dudley needs millions for regeneration? I’ll tell you why….. It’s a dump!
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The Glass museum should remain in the historic building it is in. They have all the facilities except for a disabled lift which can be easily provided. They have working glass blowing facilities and the largest supported glass structure in the world attached to that building. It should and could be upgraded to a world class attraction.
However, the short sighted council want to sell the land it is on for more poxy dolly houses. They are also desperate to fill the cone site, even though they know the land underneath it is repidly becomming unsound and potentially very expensive to maintain. This is a short term fix to a long term disaster and is not the problem of the glass museum and nor should it be. Besides the proposed cone site is too small and inadequate. Don’t get me started on the feasability study, the only site it’s looking at is the cone site! such a crude, blatant and amature set up.
Good luck Broadfield House Glass Museum!
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