PRESS RELEASE: From Kay Turvey (Chairman of the Museum Trustees) It is with a sense of deep regret that we write to inform you that the Seaford Museum Trustees have felt obliged to issue a formal complaint under the terms of the Seaford Town Council Complaints Procedure concerning a serious and damaging error in the Seaford Town Council’s Statement, issued in the names of Councillors Franklin and Burfield, in response to Norman Baker MP’s comments about the Council. In response to Norman Baker’s third paragraph, the STC Statement says: “The Museum lease was redrafted in June 2013 by a former officer of the council and returned to the council solicitor and the Martello tenant”. This is clearly intended to imply that the Museum had a copy of the draft lease as early as June 2013. In fact that was not the case, and the first sight the Museum Trustees had of the document was the unauthorised copy sent to us as an email attachment on 13th December 2013 by former Town Mayor and Councillor Anthony White. The formal complaint provides some details of the attempts the Museum made between April and Christmas 2013 to get the lease renewed as it was important both in relation to our Heritage Lottery Fund Grant and the renewal of our status an Accredited Museum. You will recall that we circulated a letter to all Councillors dated 7th December 2013. We also believe it stretches credibility to suggest that the Museum might have received a copy of the lease in June whilst continuing to ask for one over the succeeding months, or that the Town Council would not have referred to the fact that the Museum had allegedly received a copy in June in subsequent dealings with the Museum. In early January 2014 we did receive a copy of a letter dated 17th December 2013 from the Town Clerk which concluded: “As I was not party to the document prior to issue, there are some minor amendments which may be necessary, however I will await the comments of your committee before instructing solicitors, particularly as the costs of drafting are to be recharged to yourselves”. Throughout this sorry story the Museum Trustees have sought to resolve the issues between ourselves and the Town Council amicably, but I hope you will appreciate that we cannot allow the good name of the Museum to be brought into question in this way, and the formal Complaints Procedure seems to be the only means open to us. We still believe it should be possible to get a new lease agreed so that we can proceed to make the necessary grant applications which will be essential to finance our exciting plans which will benefit Seaford residents and visitors alike. Kay Turvey, Chairman. Seaford Museum Trustees
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:24:08 +0000
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