Plans to cut access to 1,000 years of the records and archives of Bristol could put the city council in breach of the law, an independent charity has warned. The council is looking to save as much as £35,000 a year by cutting the opening hours of the public access to the Bristol Archives, as part of a plan to try to plug a £51 million deficit in its budget.
The Bristol Archives, which are located in the B Bond warehouse next to the Cumberland Basin, would see its opening hours reduced by a quarter, with the current four days a week opening schedule reduced to three.
The Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, an independent charity set up by people who regularly visit, fundraise for and support the facilities, said the planned cuts are the ‘latest in a gradual erosion of opening hours’ over the last ten years, which ‘could put the council in breach of meeting its obligations in running an archive’.
Unlike museums and galleries, parks and concert hall building, having a publicly accessible records office or archive is a legal requirement for a local authority, alongside other legal musts like waste collections and adult social care.
The Friends charity said cutting the public access even more could put the council in legal hot water, and in any case, she claimed, would be a false economy.
“These short-sighted proposals will damage the availability of collections to local communities and lead to further reputational damage to Bristol City Council,” said Sue Thurlow, Chair of the Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives charity.
“Bristol Archives is accredited nationally partly on the service provided but also on the quality of the archive collections which are considered to be among the very best of any city outside London.
“As such they are an exceptionally important research tool for academics from our local universities and from around the world, given Bristol’s importance as a trading port in Empire and perhaps especially around the period of Trans-Atlantic Slavery. Arts Council England has also recognised that Bristol Archives holds ‘Designated’ collections that are of national and international importance.
“As well as professional researchers Bristol Archives support an army of individual members of the public researching their family history or other aspects of the history of the city, community groups use the archives for research into their neighbourhood and there are the commercial users including filmmakers and publishers who also provide income. All will be impacted by a reduction in services.
“In December we celebrated 100 years of Bristol Archives at an incredible event at Bristol Beacon that showcased the City’s fantastic collection of rare Bristol cine film that was projected onto a massive screen as the Bristol Youth Orchestra performed,” she said.
“The link between archives and the cultural health and well-being of the city cannot be underestimated and the proposed service reduction will be a massive body blow to the dedicated Bristol Archives team at B Bond Warehouse.
“The council believes it is saving £35,000 but the cuts in access could reduce the amount that filmmakers and commercial users pay, so it is a false economy. The Archives is a cultural service in the Western Harbour area, which the council is keen to develop,” she added.
Councillors will vote later this month of this coming year’s budget. Already council chiefs have dropped plans to completely close three of the city’s museums, but the plan to scale back opening hours for the city’s archives are still – so far – included in the budget.