Give Our Folkestone Museum Back

5.00.00am GMT Sat 1st Dec 2007

Folkestone Town Council has backed a motion proposed by Lib Dem Councillor and Deputy Mayor Emily Sanger calling on Kent County Council (KCC) to work with all interested parties to see the restoration of museum status to Folkestone. The KCC run and owned Folkestone Museum lost its museum registration this month, and it has been downgraded to a "History Resource Centre".

Kent plan to move some collections from Folkestone, and the archaeology collection will only be available to local historians. No new exhibits will be able to be accepted by the Resource centre, even from the forthcoming "Folkestone - A Town Unearthed" project.

The motion passed by the Council reads:

The Town Council are very disappointed with the decision that Folkestone has lost its museum status.

Understandably, Councillors regret KCC's lack of earlier consultation on this subject. Nevertheless the Council recognises some of the merits that have been proposed with the History Resource Centre at the Grace Hill Library site.

The Town Council urges the Kent County Council to:

1. Agree that there should be a period of suspension of all plans for any dispersal of collections to ensure that no collections are lost from the town

2. To fully liaise with the District and Town Council and all other interested bodies to closely examine all options to identify what further improvement can be made to this or other sites to restore museum status to Folkestone

3. Engage with all parties to look into other sources of funding to achieve a return to museum status

4. To set up a Working Group (with representatives from interested outside bodies) to look at regaining Museum status.