Town councillors have this week voted against spending £300,000 on a proposed new heritage centre in Burnham-On-Sea town centre.
At a virtual meeting of the Council’s Finance & Resources committee on Monday (January 25th), members considered proposals by Burnham-On-Sea Heritage Group to purchase a town centre property to create the planned heritage centre.
The new facilities would showcase the area’s rich history with displays of photographs and old exhibits, alongside an education centre, as first featured here last March.
Cllr Peter Clayton told the meeting that the Heritage Group had not been able to find funding and had asked whether the Town Council would consider buying the former Diamond Garage site in Burnham town centre to enable it to be turned into a new heritage centre.
Cllr Clayton added: “Unfortunately the heritage group have not being successful in finding any funding towards the Heritage Centre and they have not set up a charity. Therefore they have asked whether we would purchase this particular building. The councillors I have spoken to are not in favour of funding this particular property, it would not provide best value for money and would cost an awful lot.”
“From a personal perspective I think the principle of a heritage centre is a really good idea and I certainly hope something goes through at some stage in the future. Personally, I would really love to see a railway carriage or carriages on Marine Drive – I think that would be an ideal situation and I would certainly look favourably on something like that.”
He proposed the Town Council does not take invest in a new building, which was seconded by Cllr Louise Parkin.
Cllr Mike Murphy added that he thinks that the idea of creating a new heritage centre for Burnham and Highridge is “admirable” and continued: “I do hope we don’t lose sight of the idea.” He suggested the heritage group creates a list of the historical items to be displayed in the centre to help further discussions.
Mayor Cllr Mike Facey thanked the heritage group for their work on the plans so far and added: “We are not saying ‘no, no, no’ – if something comes back we may work with it in the future.”
