Cardiff council will keep one of its museums at its current home for now after agreeing a new lease. The council announced last December it was considering moving Cardiff Story Museum out of its current location at the Old Library on The Hayes and make it a mobile attraction to save money.
At the time the council said it was making the move as it faced a huge budget shortfall, but it later reversed its plans after public backlash and protests were held, saying it would instead undertake a detailed examination of the best way to ensure the museum's future.
And now it has been confirmed that the council has agreed a new deal with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to keep the museum in the Old Library building for another five years.
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Responding to a question from Rhys ab Owen MS in the Senedd this week on whether discussions had been held over the future of the museum, Dawn Bowden, Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, said: "I was very pleased to see that, just last week, Cardiff council has now signed a lease agreement with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and that's going to enable the museum to remain within the Old Library building for a further five years.
"And that's a positive development, because, clearly, that's going to give some stability to the museum and the council to examine options and to undertake feasibility for any future moves." Ms Bowden said this would also give the opportunity to promote the museum more effectively and to address accessibility issues at the museum.
Joel James MS said he felt it was "extremely short-sighted to have even thought about making Cardiff museum a mobile attraction" and said it would have caused the city "reputational damage". Ms Bowden said the Welsh Government had been in consultation with Cardiff council and had spoken to the Cardiff Museum Development Trust over the issue. She said making the museum a mobile attraction would "put at risk their accreditation" and therefore put certain funding flows under threat.
Acknowledging that Cardiff council, like others, was "faced with serious financial issues and financial choices", Ms Bowden welcomed the fact it had "listened to what people have had to say" on the issue of the museum's location. Asked by Heledd Fychan MS about longer term plans to move the museum from the Old Library building, Ms Bowden said she would "expect that lease contract with Cardiff council to take on board the fact that, if that museum is to stay in the location that it is, and that lease has been signed for five years, there's a significant amount of work that would need to be done to make that building and the collections that are in it as accessible as possible."
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