Stay of Execution for Museum Kilmartin's Long-Term Future Should Be Secured

Summary

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Its heritage credentials are impeccable. Historic Scotland has described it as the place where the Scottish nation was born. It has won major awards, provides employment in the hinterland and generates millions of pounds in revenue from tourists for the local economy. Tony Robinson, the actor who has done much to popularise archaeology, has championed its treasures. Its achievements should be celebrated publicly. In most countries, financial security would be taken as a given, something to exploit for further development and expansion. Not so in present-day Scotland. Incredibly, it has taken an apparent last-minute intervention from Frank McAveety, the culture minister, to save Kilmartin House Museum in Argyll. But for his "banging heads together", the museum would have closed at the end of the year.

The immediate outlook is much brighter. Today, Argyll and Bute council's strategic policy committee is expected to approve a one- off payment of (pounds) 10,000 for the museum which will activate another (pounds) 49,000 of public agency monies and guarantee a further (pounds) 36,000 at least a year over the next two years. In return, the museum, operated as a charitable private trust, will have to set its management house in order by agreeing, among other things, to accept a business plan and meet performance targets.

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Stay of Execution for Museum Kilmartin's Long-Term Future Should Be Secured

It is a small price to pay for financial stability, especially if it makes th...

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