WHAT is Launceston Town Council (LTC) now proposing for the museum at Lawrence House now that its grandiose scheme for renovating the property has been given the thumbs down by Historic England so that its planning application has been withdrawn? 

That is the question that scores of volunteers who prepare exhibitions, act as stewards, carry out gardening at Lawrence House or otherwise help the running of the museum would like answered. 

LTC has a full repairing lease of the building from the National Trust. The councillors are also trustees of the charity which looks after the collection of artefacts which have been given to the museum and are periodically on display. 

The first thing that went wrong was that in 2020 during the first Covid lockdown the leaking roof and chimney, which should have been repaired years ago, brought some ceilings down rendering the property unusable. 

The next problem was that LTC dispensed with the services of a highly qualified and experienced curator in Dr Damon Dennis in the early summer of 2023, who was well liked and respected by the volunteers. Nobody knows why because the matter is the subject of a non-disclosure agreement which means that neither LTC nor Dr Dennis can say why he left. 

LTC said through the mayor in the presence of the town clerk at a meeting of volunteers in 2023 that this was because it was illegal for LTC to employ a curator, a nonsensical reason which has no basis in law. My source suggests that the town clerk didn’t like him which, if true, should have been irrelevant. 

 He has not been replaced which means that the volunteers have been without any direction for over a year and have become demoralised. Some have become too old to continue and some have resigned. 

 LTC has taken four years just to make Lawrence House wind and watertight. An application for planning permission and listed building consent went in this spring but was withdrawn when Historic England objected to several of the proposals. Why were all the people who needed to consent approached and asked for their consent years ago? 

Apparently LTC obtained a grant of about £480,000 to carry out the proposals of which about £300,000 remains after the external repairs were done. The volunteers were never consulted about LTC’s great plans and would be very happy if the building could be put back as it was if this is possible under the terms of the grant so that Lawrence House can reopen before all the volunteers disappear.   

The original proposal was intended to make the building more suitable for functions and conferences despite the fact that there is an excellent conference and wedding venue with parking, a drinks licence, restaurant and dance floor 50 yards up the road at the Eagle House Hotel not to mention LTC’s own Town Hall complex which won praise for its refurbishment a few years ago. 

Councillors need to accept that, if they want a museum, it will not make money. No museum makes money unless it is endowed with assets that provide a sufficient income to outweigh the loss made on the museum itself. The only income that the museum was endowed with was two lock up garages and a residential flat on the second floor. LTC’s original proposal was to put the flat in the basement and make it smaller than it was before thereby reducing its potential income!  

When is the position of curator going to be advertised? LTC originally proposed that it could appoint only a manager of its historic buildings but any museum needs a curator to give a lead to the volunteers and represent the interests of the museum to LTC. There has been a sad lack of information to the volunteers since Dr Dennis left. 

Michael Warne,

Launceston