Council asks residents to help out with bill for new museum

A huge fundraising drive is to be launched to secure cash for the museum, to be built into the cliffs off Western Esplanade.

The council will bid for millions from Government departments, the National Lottery and EU, and is even asking residents themselves to chip in.

Plans for the museum were first revealed in 2008 but no money has been found for the project since then.

Senior officers blamed the economic downturn for failing to secure any funding, but will launch a high-profile fundraising trust in the autumn – complete with a chairman and trustees.

The trust will bid for EU funding, lottery grants and Government cash as well as asking for help from wealthy donors and even people of Southend in a “crowdfunding” plan.

Nick Harris, head of culture at the authority, said: “We have made this a key priority for the council to have a major international attraction in Southend in the form of the museum that will turn the town into a 12-month-ayear destination venue.”

Simon May, group manager for museums, added: “The game for us now is exploring all the various streams of funding.

“We could even look at crowd sourcing – going out to people and saying ‘all your £5s do add up.’ “This is a game changer for the town. Southend is on the Thames and you can’t underestimate the importance of the river to the country, and that gives us the ideal opportunity to have an international museum on its banks.”

The 20,000 sq ft facility, sunk into the cliffs, has a distinctly modern look, and the complex will feature a museum, conference centre, planetarium, and underground parking.

A space will be provided for artefacts and exhibitions from museums across the country, as well as finds from the HMS London shipwreck, which blew up in 1665, and was discovered in the Thames estuary in 2005.

It will also house the Saxon King finds, dug up in Prittlewell in 2003.

Scholars from London museums have been researching the significance of the Saxon King artefacts.

They will publish their findings in the autumn and council chiefs hope the publicity will help their fundraising.

They will also look to appoint a “leading cultural personality” to promote the trust when it launches.

Since plans for the museum were given planning permission in 2012, it has remained an ambition of the authority.

Graham Longley, cabinet member for tourism, said: “We are certain this will come off. We’re confident it’s a flyer.”

Critics blast the proposals

Critics have blasted the seafront museum as an “outdated” and“inappropriate” idea.

Lobby group Saxon King in Priory Park (Skipp), which have long pressed Southend Council for an interactive museum next to the burial ground in Priory Crescent, have consistently condemned the seafront museum plan.

The group planted a tree in the Western Esplanade cliff site earmarked for the museum last month, in protest at the council still wanting to press on with the plans, which were first mooted in 2008.

Sheena Walker, from the group, said: “It’s depressing that the idea continues.

“The museum plan is inappropriate and outdated, and financially unworkable.

“The museum will be a sideshow to the profit making of the conference centre and restaurant from private operators.

“The council’s model is completely outdated. People don’t just want exhibitions, they want interactive displays at museums.

“That’s what we would have offered with our museum.”

Skipp claims that their alternative museum plan would cost around £10million, but claim that despite emails to the council, councillors have never been interested.

However, the group conceded it hasnever presented their proposal formerly to the authority.

Look at what happened in Portsmouth, council say

Senior officials at Southend Council say that similar heritage projects have not proved an impossible task.

They cited the example of the Mary Rose museum, which showcases the 14th century Tudor ship in Portsmouth, which re-opened in 2013 with some £23million Heritage Lottery fund cash.

Although this is just half the predicted amount of the seafront museum, bosses are confident of securing the money towards their project.

The Mary Rose was discovered in 1971 and raised in 1982. Since the museum, which opened a few years later, was refurbished in 2013, it has had 500,000 visitors.

Simon May, group manager for museums at the council, said: “Before 1982, people didn’t have a reason to visit Portsmouth.

“Look at what that iconic ship has down for Portsmouth.

“We are coming out of a period of austerity and things like Portsmouth show it can be done.”

Officials also cited cultural regenerations of Newcastle, Liverpool, and Leeds, which contained museums, as examples of showing that funding can be sought for those projects.

Nick Harris, the authority’s head of culture, said the multi-million plans to shore up the cliffs against slippage were in effect, the first part of the scheme.

He said: “It’s not as if we have been sitting here doing nothing.”

The Saxon King remains WILL go on show in Southend

A Treasure trove including golden crusted drinking horns and a gold belt buckle found in the Saxon king’s tomb will be returned and exhibited in Southend, the Echo can reveal.

The burial ground of Southend’s 6th-century ruler – nicknamed the Prittlewell Prince – was unearthed, virtually intact, in Priory Crescent, Prittlewell, in 2003.

Experts found ornate gold-rimmed drinking horns and a gold belt buckle of a type most popular in England between 600 and 640AD, among many other items.

Southend Council ultimately wants the artefacts to take pride of place in a special exhibition in the new seafront museum – if it is built.

But the authority has also set aside £200,000 to create a storage facility for the artefacts and they will be coming back to Southend before the end of this year.

Officials confirmed parts of the find will go on show at the current museum in Victoria Avenue – but only periodically.

Simon May, group manager for museums, said: “Having the Prittlewell Prince back in our hands means it is under our control and not the London museums’.

“Our intention is to keep it in storage but parts of the collection will be brought out for future exhibitions at the central museum in Victoria Avenue.

“It was such a significant find, we want to educate people and we want people to be able to see it.”

But the relics will not be able to stay out long as they need to be in the right humidity and temperature, and the council will have to draft in extra security.

A new seafront museum would be built with this in mind.

The 7th century finds were discovered by accident in 2003 when engineers were surveying land near Priory Park when looking into dualling Priory Crescent.