Heritage funds crisis
Saturday 27th June 2009, 3:00PM BST.
Jon Carter at Mont Orgueil. Picture by Matthew Hotton
THE Maritime Museum, the Occupation Tapestry Gallery and Hamptonne will close next month if Jersey Heritage does not receive more funding within days, ministers have been warned.
Heritage director Jon Carter said that the funding crisis had become so serious that he was left with no option but to prepare to cut services and lay off staff imminently.
He says that he needs an extra £1 million a year just to keep all the existing sites open and to provide the current level of services.
However, a statement issued by Education Minister James Reed yesterday suggested that no lifeline was available. He said that the Jersey Heritage Trust would in the short term have to manage within its current resources.
Earlier this month, the States voted for an amendment to the Strategic Plan proposed by St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft to make heritage and the arts funding a priority in the 2010 Business Plan, which sets out what funding each department will receive.
However, Mr Carter, who is the subject of the Saturday Interview in today’s Jersey Evening Post, said that he is finding his requests are falling on too many deaf ears in the Council of Ministers.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
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Talking about the war, the occupation, the bad Germans and bad French will suffice. Why teaching anybody about heritage? Why remind people that Jersey people fought and died pour la patrie? Waste of time and money and space. This seems to be the attitude of the majority of our “elected” politicians. What a disgrace! But presto, the States of Jersey has enough cash to give it to their own (“JT executives to share £340,000 loyalty bonuses” and many other cases) or spend on advertizing in the UK and China for tourism (to visit what?) and finance. An island run by the rich for the rich. The rest is merely servants.
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Surely the Jersey Heritage should be one of the projects that our beloved leaders are going to pour £44 million into this year after all it is supposed to support the economy and help people keep their jobs. The sites that may close are invaluable to the island they are our heritage.
They provide many people with jobs and are part of our children’s education and heritage as well as an excellent tourist attraction. Surely something can be done to prevent this. Come on states members pull your fingers out and do something very quickly!!!
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Well surely then the million pound annual bill should be evenly distributed amongst the tax exempt financial sector, or taken from the profits of our financial services commission… something has to be given back to this island and not just taken all the time!
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The trustees of Jersey Heritage must bear responsibility for this crisis.It’s no good choosing bankers and accountants as trustees, with no proven background in the arts and heritage.What is needed is people with experience in the arts and a passionate interest in the heritage of Jersey.
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tourists come to the island and want to be able to visit these attractions, rather than pour 44 million in to whatever its going in too, just 43 million could be spent giving these attractions another year.
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Perhaps some of the £44 million we just happen to have can be put towards this very deserving cause. Come on states memebers do something for your island and its heritage for a change.
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as a jersey visitor for over twenty years im disgusted that these sites should be closed down.as a family we visit every year.our october holiday is based round the cider weekend.my other holiday is a walking one.we often walk to hamptonne.my children have grown up with these sites.they have learnt the history of the island.we never tire of going to these sites every year.my youngest is now 19 and still loves visiting these and the rest of the sites.you say you need the tourist but closing sites will not bring them over.ive watched tourist attractions close over the years.to close these will be a big mistake.soon there will be nothing left for the visitor to see.please think again befor closing down sites.im due to renew our memberships when we go in october but there will be no point if these sites are closed.its not just the tourist that lose out but the islanders too.
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It’s all evry simple really Mr. Carter. You need to rebrand, one of today’s buzzwords and a popular mot du jour.
Take all your properties and attractions and from a company e.g The Jersey Time Past Land and Development Islander trust. Then conatcat Finacial Services and the States. Before you know it they’ll start throwing money at you and may well giev you a States member, and I use that term very loosely, to look after you.
It has to be said that concentrating on the history, tradition and culture of the island just isn’t going to cut it these days.
As my old maman used to say “It just makes you want to spit”. Of course she said it in a very strong Jersey accent so it would be unrecognisable and therefore unintelligible to most residents these days. Still I wouldn’t advise that course of action before checking which way the wind blows. In particular don’t try it near the Royal Square because as we know the wind down there blows all over the place.
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Of course my maman would now be very cross with all my spelling errors.
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Or could it be that the Jersey Heritage Trust need to take a long hard look at how they are running themselves .. If they want the autonomy that an independent business or company enjoys then they have to operate within their means.
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The States, whether one likes it or not, is required by international treaty to look after our Historic Castles and Sites in order to preserve them and our Island culture for future generations. This responsibility, when properly run and tightly managed by the right people, can easily be done within the current budget.
The first thing Jersey Heritage should do is cut half of their unnecessary staff and petty activities, and ‘by-cry’ do they have them! Run, for the most part, by people with no real Jersey family history or cultural connection to the Island, these people who would happily waste £5 million in public funds to turn Mont Orgueil into a rubbish touchy-feely Day Care Centre! Indeed, this is the way these politically correct morons think and operate, rather than first worrying about consolidating and preserving what is left of the ancient fabric.
However, should the JHT, once they have pared down their workforce and overall operating costs, truly require some extra funding, then perhaps the States, instead of wasting £44 million to support all the exploitative carpet-bagging developers and their ‘here today gone tomorrow’ army of white-van craft traders, should responsibly consider investing that money into our public infrastructure, such as maintaining roads, sewers, and above all, a new modern Hospital. And then hopefully, with a little left over due to sound fiscal management, Jersey should be able to keep its international agreements to preserve our historic sites.
Perhaps, as an after thought, JHT’s Director or Chairman could run down the road to the equally waste of money Jersey Enterprise racket and ask Mr. Common Purpose himself/herself, to hook them up with one of their special Angels – Yeah, I know, “if Frogs had wings they’d fly” – And if this was the case, then believe me, people would be lining up tomorrow in the royal square to apply for an unnecessary overpaid government job in the newly created States ‘Flying Crapaud’ Department designed to regulate them.
So it’s no good crying to Terry – times have changed and public sector employees are simply going to have to learn that everybody is going to have to work harder, for longer and for a whole lot less!
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Tintin – your email suggests that they give up autonomy and simply become a States department, I’m not sure what else you could mean.
If that happened I am unconvinced the already high quality of their attractions would improve, but I am absolutely convinced costs would rise. Volunteers would not see the point of volunteering, and employees would end up on the States payroll, with States benefits for us to pay.
I sit on an independent voluntary body paid for by a States grant, and frankly we are incredibly cost and value conscious in a way that the equivalent States department simply can’t contemplate. We are also many times more effective.
I can think of almost no situation where independent charities would be better becoming States departments either from a quality or cost standpoint.
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I agree we should be saving our heritage the states could be stepping in here however Jersey Heritage could help themselves. i am a fully paid up member as are all my family and we constantly get updates and whats new sent to us all here at the same house even though they are joint memberships. We get all the great updates via email so why are they wasiting so much on postage to the same household. I know it won’t save any where near the amount they need but they could be saving a little if they are doing it to my household they must be doing it to others.
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Surely it’s the wage bill that’s killing it…..will someone state what it actually is…?
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How much money did Jersey Heritage pay to Pure Adventure last summer? Was it half a million pound?
Was this the result of JHT making a series of poor business decisions? Was anybody at JHT held accountable for this?
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As a past worker on the Island of Jersey and a frequent visitor since I am seldom rendered speechless by the bizarre machinations of the States.
However the proposed closure of the Maritime museum and other attractions because of lack of funding has nearly worked the oracle.
The Museum,where a very good friend of mine Volunteers to work is both educational and a tourist attraction.It also warns of the tidal state of the island-very important when walking to Gorey for example and is popular with children and adults alike.
The States seems to have this mentality that it will support pie in the sky ideas from any Islander but not part of its own heritage.
I would like to beg the States to reconsider this ludicrous decision as soon as possible and enable more people to learn more about the unique and charming character of Jersy.
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I echo the comments that so many have put forward in this forum. I hope the States read these comments and can find a way to stop the madness of these closures. Closing tourist attractions DOES NOT attract tourists. These particular Jersey Heritage attractions are so much better than the privately run ones on the island – this could be the start of a very slippery slope which could one day end up with only privately run “money making” attractions. Surely Jersey Heritage have a duty to protect these places?
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Heritage aren’t exactly helping themselves when they waste 1/2 a million pounds on buying the pure adventure ducks!!!
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I personally am not in a position to comment on whether or not the Jersey Heritage attractions are expensive for what they are, and am in no way privy to their running costs and whether there are obvious overspends. All I will point out, and this is addressed to all States Members and the Chief Minister in particular, is that one primary acknowleged weakness of our tourist industry is a lack of things for our visitors to do when the weather is not good enough for outside activities. Also unless tourism is to be just seasonal (Confined to just 4 months of “Summer”? every year)it is these alternative activities that are going to extend the season throughout the year and provide local people and businesses with economic activity and ongoing jobs outside the Finance Industry.It follows therefore that it is precisely these types of jobs the States needs to be creating ,not abolishing at this point in time. And as private entrepreneurs are having no luck at all raising venture capital from Banks at the present time, it is precisely into enterprises like Jersey Heritage that some of this much vaunted £44mn should be being invested. Far too much mileage has been made of the Puddleduck saga by those seeking to denigrate JH’s efforts so far.I was sad to see the old but brightly painted DUKW’s go from Elisabeth Castle but as I understand it there was an independant operator who claimed they could operate a better service with up to date equipement but who when JH took them at their word then let JH down.As I understand it the old DUKW’s would have fallen foul of EC health and safety rules in due course, and I daresay had there been an accident and loss of life their age would have been the first thing the States and JH would have been pilloried for in the Press.Short of having no service at all out to what is a primary tourist site, and presumably potential money earner, JH had no alternative but to step in and take over the service.To now stand back and watch money that has already been spent go to waste is nothing short of scandalous. To allow JH facilities to close now at this time is ludicrous (A false economy), whilst at the same time supporting private developers who are heavily invested in one of the economic sectors that has been severely hit by the current recession.I am not suggesting throwing money at JH, but when Mr Carter was employed in his role, he obviously got selected for the job because his employers assessed he had good judgement and knew the marketplace in which JH is operating.He has made the assessment that JH needs increased funding just to survive let alone expand and create new jobs, only to be told “tough, we know best, get by”.If that is the case then what was the point of employing him in the first place?I would suggest the real failure is the lack of a well structured, realistic five year plan of action as to what JH is trying to achieve, and what is being expected of it’s management by way of positive achievement during that initial period?And I would suggest that if such a plan does not exist then it is the fault of the Minister responsible and the Council of Ministers in general, not the management of JH. So make a plan,set a realistic budget, include some rainy day (Shoot the moon)money and get on with creating something worth having.It will be far better to fail having done something constructive rather than spend a whole load of money to achieve nothing! (Why does Fort Regent come to mind? At least when that was first set up people did get some use out of it!)
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