MSP calls for David Livingstone Centre to be saved

Mar 26 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

TOM McCabe has written to the National Trust for Scotland urging them to reconsider plans to end their management of the David Livingstone Centre.

The Hamilton South MSP has also asked the Trust to spell out the financial justification for the decision.

NTS announced earlier this month that they would sever their ties with the centre unless someone else clears a £100,000 deficit by April 30.

The Trust say they are strapped for cash and have targeted 11 properties for possible closure or partial closure. Ninety staff also face the threat of redundancy.

Trust insiders say they now have to pay 80 per cent of the centre’s running costs, compared with half when they took over management in 1998, and can no longer afford it.

Almost 20,000 people last year visited the centre and closure would hit the seven full-time staff, four seasonal workers and 19 volunteers who keep alive the Livingstone story in his birthplace.

Last week, the Advertiser revealed that South Lanarkshire Council had offered to increase their annual contribution to the centre from £20,000 to £50,000.

However, the trust turned down the offer and it remains unclear as to whether the centre will reopen on April 1 for the new season.

Mr McCabe called for the centre to be saved in a letter sent last Friday to the NTS properties and visitor service director Michael Hunter.

The MSP said the centre was highly regarded locally and of significant historical importance.

It was a “much-needed local and tourist attraction in a working class community”.

He added: “In my view (South Lanarkshire) council have been more than generous in every respect regarding their dealings with NTS.

“And it seems strange that an offer to more than double the council’s contribution to the centre has been met with a negative response.

“I have to say that the actions of the NTS border on bad faith.”

Mr McCabe also asked for a breakdown of the finances of each NTS property.

He wants to know if other NTS sites are in deficit and by how much they are in the red.

The MSP has asked for details of the criteria used by NTS to determine which of the properties they have earmarked for closure.

Ian Livingstone, chairman of the centre’s board of governors, welcomed the MSP’s initiative.

He said the governors met last week to discuss a number of fund-raising initiatives.

They are preparing a DVD and brochure, detailing the Livingstone story, which will be sent to prominent Scots in the hope that they will make donations to the centre.

The governors have also written to NTS asking for a meeting involving their officers, representatives of the governors and Lanarkshire MPs and MSPs to discuss the centre’s future.

Discussions between the NTS and South Lanarkshire Council are also continuing.

Ian Livingstone said: “Any short-term solution would have to involve NTS and the council.

“I hope that in the conversations they have, a compromise can be reached that will enable the centre to continue to operate, giving us breathing space to raise some money long-term.”

He added: “If NTS went ahead with the plan to withdraw from the management of the centre, the governors would have to sit down and decide how the centre would continue to operate with a team of volunteers.

“Problems would, however, arise with the upkeep and maintenance of the property.”