Heritage in financial trouble again.

JEP Friday.

JERSEY Heritage staff have been warned that sites will be closed and redundancies made if the group’s funding crisis is not resolved soon.

The most likely sites to shut are Hamptonne, the Maritime Museum and the Occupation Tapestry Gallery.
Six emergency meetings were held on Monday evening to tell the group’s 120 staff, who range from full-time employees to those working for as little as two hours a week, about the crisis.

Director Jon Carter said that more States funding was desperately needed to prevent jobs being lost, but would not say whether lay-offs were imminent.
He revealed that 20 people would have to be made redundant ‘as a worst-case scenario’ to save money.

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/06/19/jobs-and-sites-on-the-line/

To give Jersey Heritage some credit they have been working hard to attract falling numbers of recession hit tourists to Jersey's world class castles and monuments.


The problem is that every time they put their large hand out it's taxpayers' money they are after. The repairs and rebuild of Gorey Castle went massively over budget. The re-modelling and conversion of the old Jersey radio tower into holiday accommodation was a waste of big money without a business plan, and of course not listening to their lawyers regarding the buy out of a private business the Dukws was a £600,000 pound disaster. It is clear to anyone with a grain of sense that the private operators (pure adventures Ltd) should have been kept to the contract they signed and Heritage were correctly advised by their lawyers regarding the way forward. No, they bought a failing unprofitable business for top money which now costs a fortune to run. Not clever.


Heritages director Jon Carter and Nick Danby his financial partner are right. There will have to be some downsizing and mothballing, sad as this may be. There can be no excuse to keep throwing money at attractions few wish visit. If it was there own personal money, maybe but not other peoples, it makes no sense and would be theft from the taxpayer. They were given another £200,000 a few months ago bringing the total for the year to £2,1 million.
BB

Lets face it people have not got the money to play around with, so ventures like these will suffer