History Centre Closure - Council response

Reply from Cr. David Smith, Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation & Tourism:-
"Thank you for your email concerning the Brighton History Centre.

Our proposal to move this service from its existing location at the Brighton Museum to the Jubilee Library will, I believe, have a number of benefits.  The accessibility will be improved with an increase in opening hours for customers from 35 hours a week in Brighton History Centre to 54 hours a week in Jubilee Library.  The majority of use of the Brighton History Centre is for use of online resources or microfilm and fiche resources (family history researchers), and these can be provided in Jubilee Library, together with some of the book stock.

The service as it is currently run is only used by a limited group of people and those figures are in decline.  The History centre is unfortunately not attracting new users or younger users and the number of visits has dropped by nearly 14,000 in last five years.

We are keen to improve services and particularly to improve access.  It is also important to note that we do have additional good local history resources in all of our libraries and also in Brighton and Hove Museums and Galleries.

Once again thank you for your enquiry into the Brighton History Centre."

(I note he has not commented on the issues of security or on the possible move to the Keep.)

Previous posts on this subject are: here, here, and here.