Cogges Manor Farm Museum decision delayed until October (From Witney Gazette)

Cogges Manor Farm Museum decision delayed until October

1:18pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008 in Witney By David Horne

A DECISION on the way forward for Cogges Manor Farm Museum at Witney cannot be expected until later this year, probably in October.

But the signs for the future are optimistic, with visitor numbers 50 per cent up on last year, and three formal proposals now on the table. One, which has already been made public, is from the Cogges Community Enterprise Group. The others are from undisclosed commercial heritage operators.

The museum is owned by Oxfordshire County Council, which says it cannot sustain £250,000 annual losses, and is looking for external support and management. Its funding, on a decreasing scale, will finish in 2010. Martyn Brown, the county's heritage and arts officer, said the project board set up to assess the future running of the museum has three schemes before it.

He added: "With three formal proposals on the table, the board decided to commission an external evaluation of the options in order to inform the cabinet.

"This will delay the decision-making process, probably until October. Meetings have been held with the leaders of the other two proposals in order to clarify the details of each and to question them further about their business plans."

The next meeting of the board is on August 29.

Forthcoming attractions at Cogges include the Kids Out school holiday activities programme, from Thursday to July 29, and a Traditional Toys weekend on July 26 and 27. For further details, visit the website cogges.org