£1 Million Boost for Council's Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum Redevelopment Project

The news that the Council has been successful in its bid for £959,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Museum project is great for the Borough and for local taxpayers. Added to the Council's £3.6 million investment and other generous contributions, it means that we can go ahead with a project that will make the art gallery and museum an extremely attractive destination in the town centre, while also cutting revenue costs for local taxpayers on an ongoing basis.

I'm confident that the redevelopment will make Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum the place to go for residents to enjoy art and culture, meet friends and bring visitors to the Borough. It will help attract people to the town, while the revenue savings the project will bring are obviously vital. To be able to do this while making a vast improvement in the service is very welcome indeed.

The £6.6m project will involve the complete redesign of the galleries in the Art Gallery & Museum. The refurbished buildings will feature new galleries, spaces for learning activities and corporate hire, a shop, café and more.

The next stage sees the Council working up detailed building and exhibition designs and going out to tender for the project. The works should start in May 2011. They will take approximately 18 months, with the facilities re-opening in late 2012 or early 2013. Bedford Museum will close on Sunday 17 October, with all museum artefacts to be carefully packed away and stored off-site during the works.

I went along to the art gallery and museum to with Leisure and Culture Portfolio Holder and Sharnbrook Ward Cllr Doug McMurdo to meet representatives from the HLF and to mark the award of the grant. The exhibits in the museum include a lovely Fire Engine of the Sharnbrook Volunteer Fire Brigade, from circa 1832, so with Doug in attendance there was only one choice for the photos!