The future of the Wirral Transport Museum has been secured as councillors voted to move it into charity hands.
The Wirral Transport Museum is owned by Wirral Council and is based on Taylor Street in Birkenhead. It currently costs the council around £85,000 a year but the transfer to local non-profit Big Heritage will mean they take over the costs of running the museum.
The museum features a wide array of historic trams, buses and cars as well as maintaining 1km of tramway that runs to the Woodside Ferry Terminal. The tracks today are all that is left of what used to transport people across Birkenhead and Oxton when trams were one of the main forms of transport on the Wirral.
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Its location means it’s near to some of the key regeneration projects planned by the local authority. Officers argued that if the museum was sold off, it would undermine the plans to revive Birkenhead.
The museum is currently run by 50 volunteers who operate a limited opening hour schedule but will still be involved in the running of the museum going forward.
It will be handed out on a 25-year lease with Big Heritage arguing they will create a “compelling visitor attraction” and bring in more than 40,000 visitors a year. Currently the museum only welcomes around 6,000 visitors a year due to budget restrictions.
Cllr Allan Brame said the proposal was “an exciting project” and would provide some reassurance to the museum moving forward, adding: “We have a wonderful asset here that was in some jeopardy.”
Councillors also praised the volunteers who currently run the museum for their “absolutely outstanding work” in keeping the museum going.
Rob Jones, Secretary of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society Limited (MTPS), said: “Our main concern has been knowing what are we charging for people to come in, who are asking us questions that we really don’t know the answer to. That worries our members.
“I am all for the Big Heritage asset transfer. I’m 68 and I’m one of the younger people in the group.”
He added: “My personal passion is that we should go ahead with this because I think it is the future” but some still had concerns. However he considered no other alternative for the museum.
Cllr Helen Cameron, chair of the council's Tourism, Communities, Culture and Leisure committe, praised the volunteers, adding: “If it’s your baby, if you’ve poured years and years into it, it does feel like allowing someone else to adopt it is a huge step but I hope this does give you some reassurance because we need to preserve these assets.”
A letter sent to the council confirmed the board for the MTPS unanimously agreed the support the plans for transfer.
Wirral Council explained the plans in a report: “Any one of the visitor attractions within Birkenhead might be in themselves a compelling experience but having them interconnected, all within the same area, provides an unparalleled visitor experience.”
The report said the museum combined with the ferry village, the new Dock Branch Park, and a revamped waterfront "creates a compelling visitor attraction package that maximises visitors to Birkenhead’s attractions.
“Ultimately the aim is that instead of a 1-2 hour visit, families, tourists and enthusiasts can spend an entire day exploring the different attractions and the local area. They will stay longer in Birkenhead, stimulating the local economy as they choose to eat, drink and shop and explore.”
It was voted through unanimously. Councillors also voted unanimously to transfer Irby library and Wallasey Village library into community hands meaning they will reopen soon.
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