Council bosses to sign off on college plans for Walsall Leather Museum this week
Walsall Council has outlined its strategy to relocate Walsall Leather Museum as it reveals plans for Walsall College to move into the former factory building.
Cabinet members at the authority will meet on Wednesday night to rubberstamp proposals which include purchasing a new town centre building for the museum, and the disposal of the existing museum building at Littleton Street West to Walsall College.
The Conservative-led authority’s plans to move the museum into an unknown town centre location was first announced last year in the 2025/26 budget.
It was hoped the move would create an annual saving of £190,000.
Following backlash the leader at the time, Garry Perry, removed it from the budget but said if no changes were made, the museum would have to close by default.
The original proposal said the attraction would move into a council-owned building in the town centre.
But this week the authority said none of its existing buildings could accommodate it.
Cabinet members on Wednesday will give the go ahead for regeneration portfolio holder, Councillor Adrian Andrew, and executive director for economy and environment, Dave Brown, to purchase a new town centre property to house the museum.
Once approved, the existing Littleton Street West building will be leased to Walsall College for a term of 125 years.
The plans are moving alongside the new Adult Learning Centre which will be located inside the former Marks and Spencer’s building in the Saddlers Centre.
The project will result in the relocation of Walsall College’s Hawbush and Whitehall campuses. Once they have moved to the town centre the two sites will revert back to the council.
A feasibility study has found that the former M&S would not be suitable for the Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) offering at the college’s Hawbush campus due to the lack of accessibility and outdoor space.
The council has proposed to locate the SEND offering in the current leather museum building which already forms part of the college’s Broadway site, adjacent to the college’s main campus.
When the museum relocation proposals were pulled from the 2025/26 budget earlier this year, Perry said ‘it was only right’ that any changes to the museum were done in collaboration with those who fought to save it.
In May, he resigned as leader, and last month from politics altogether. Now, the authority is led by Councillor Mike Bird.
Less than a fortnight ago, local artist Vicky Roden was set to protest at the town’s MakerFest event, claiming that the council had acted with ‘zero transparency’ around the plans.
At the time, the council said discussions about the museum were ongoing and that it hoped residents would continue to engage with them.
Now, cabinet members will meet at 6pm on Wednesday, September 24, to formally sign off on the plans. The financial and legal implications of the project will be discussed during the private session.
