What next for Red House and Dewsbury Museum?

The council is currently looking for organisations to take over the buildings that housed Dewsbury Museum, which closed on 6 November 2016, and Red House Museum in Gomersal, which will close on 21 December 2016.
The council is currently gathering expressions of interest to take over the running of the buildings.  An information pack is available online at http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/assettransfer.
The deadline for initial expressions of interest and/or outline business cases for taking over Dewsbury Museum or Red House Museum is 6 March 2017.
An asset transfer of either building is expected to include covenants for community use, with the option of up to 30% of the building being available for commercial use.
It is expected that the council will make decisions on any expressions of interest on 3 April 2016.  If nobody from the community is willing to take over the running of the buildings, the council will look at placing them for sale on the open market.
The council agreed to close Dewsbury Museum, in Crow Nest Park and Red House in Gomersal at a cabinet meeting on 3 October 2016 as part of a wider reorganisation of the Museums Service that will see the council save £531,000.
The Grade II listed Dewsbury Museum and the museum shop is no longer open to the public.  The café next door remains open along with the greenhouse and adventure playground.  All buildings at Red House Museum in Gomersal will also close to the public on 21 December.  Security arrangements are in place for both buildings.
Some objects on loan to both museums have already been returned to their owners and other collections are being moved into secure storage whilst officers consider how objects can be displayed in future, for the benefit of the people of Kirklees.
Kirklees Museums and Galleries would like to reassure people who have permanently donated (rather than loaned) objects to Dewsbury Museum or Red House Museum in the past that their objects will continue to be managed carefully as part of the Kirklees Museums & Galleries collections.
Cllr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Resources said: “The council did not want to be in this position.  Nobody wants to close museums but we do need to react to these times of austerity and make savings.
“I am sorry that people will no longer be able to access these museums, but I can assure you that we will do everything possible to look after the collections.
“Following our recent consultation, we know that the public support our plan to find new and innovative ways for them to view the collections, and we will be doing more of this in the future.
“Museums are not just about buildings it’s about using the collections to tell the story of our past and how they influence what we do today.
However if any organisation thinks that they have a business case for taking over the buildings for the benefit of the local community I would encourage them to fill out the forms on our website.”