Heritage bodies fight proposal to outsource work at historic Shugborough Hall
The National Trust and English Heritage have expressed concerns over a move which could see the grounds of Shugborough Hall maintained by a private sector company, it can be revealed today.
Bosses at Staffordshire County Council, which has a 99-year lease on the historic estate, this week agreed to outsource the running of the authority's infrastructure to public service provider Amey.
The move includes maintenance of highways, country parks and could include the upkeep of the grounds of Shugborough. The running of the day-to-day business of the estate would not be affected.
The decision-making cabinet agreed to the partnership, dubbed Infrastructure+, in a 10-year deal worth up to £800 million.
The National Trust and English Heritage are worried the Grade I listed building and its impressive grounds will suffer as a result of the move.
The National Trust said it had a 'strong preference' that Shugborough was not included as part of the deal.
A letter from from the trust to the council stated: "We do not feel the long-term interests of Shugborough are best served by fragmenting its management and bringing in third parties to maintain and provide services. Instead, we strongly feel that for the estate to be run successfully, and at the same time respect its status as a Grade I Listed heritage asset, it is essential that a unified management philosophy is adopted and that the person in day-to-day operational responsibility has the ability to direct and influence the deployment of resources on site."
And a letter from English Heritage stressed the 'heritage importance' of the Shugborough Estate.
It stated "Our own observation is that a dedicated in-house park or gardening team often delivers a higher quality outcome than can be achieved through period contractors."
It also expressed concern whether Amey had 'the skill and experience needed to deliver high quality highway engineering works' for the 'necessary for the upkeep of a major historic site such as Shugborough'.
The council today said it had not made a final decision whether to include them as part of the partnership which is claiming to save the taxpayer £21 million over five years.
