Public seek answers on proposed Gilstrap sale

Feelings were running high over the potential sale of Newark’s Gilstrap Centre as members of the public quizzed district council representatives on its proposals.

More than 100 people filled the exhibition space at the Castlegate centre for the first of two meetings on Friday arranged by Newark and Sherwood District Council.

The centre, a listed building at the entrance to Newark Castle, was given to the town by Sir William Gilstrap in 1883 for a public library and is now used for the Castle And Conflict exhibition, temporary exhibitions, and the town Tourist Information Centre.

The council has applied to the Charity Commission for permission to sell the building to Nottinghamshire County Council, which is keen to use it as a register office.

The district’s deputy chief executive, Mrs Kirsty Cole, gave an hour-long presentation detailing their reasons for the proposed sale, during which she was regularly interrupted by a mixture of agitated mutterings and angry outbursts.

The audience were urged to let Mrs Cole continue, by the council’s cabinet member for culture and leisure, Mr Roger Jackson, and leave questions until the end.

Mrs Cole said the charity that ran the centre, the Gilstrap Knight Charitable Trust, of which the district council are the trustees, was short of money.

She said the building cost £65,000 a year to run, which was met by the council, and did not appear on the trust’s accounts.

Last year, she said, the centre generated an income of about £1,300 and the council picked up the shortfall.

Mrs Cole said the council could no longer afford to do that, and providing a museum was part of the council’s discretionary spending and not something it was obliged to do.

“The trust is not insolvent at the moment but the trustees have a duty to look towards its future,” she said.

Mrs Cole also referred to the potential development of the Old Magnus Buildings as a new state-of-the-art museum, saying it would effectively be a duplication of what the Gilstrap had to offer, but on a much larger scale.

However, when the Old Magnus Buildings development manager, Mrs Bryony Robins, stood to deliver her part of the presentation about the new museum — reliant on a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £3.2m being successful — many in the audience became restless.

They shouted Mrs Robins back into her seat, insisting their views be heard about the Gilstrap.

“We don’t want to hear about the Old Magnus Buildings —this meeting was advertised as being about the Gilstrap Centre,”one person said.

“Let’s talk about it while the facts are fresh in our minds.”

Mr Jackson appealed for the meeting to be conducted sensibly and calmly. He said all questions would be answered to the best of their ability.

Mrs Robins eventually delivered her presentation at the end of a 90-minute question-and-answer session to about ten remaining people.

The rest of the audience had walked out at points during the question session.

For more coverage on the Gilstrap Centre see today's Advertiser.