Wednesday 11 June 2014

Council treasure troves...and irony in Powys


ITV Wales has been investigating the volume and value of artwork held by Welsh county councils. The full responses can be seen here, although several didn't respond at all. Of those that did, a surprising number didn't know the value of the collections. The known total across Wales amounted to nearly £50m.
The survey also discovered that around three quarters of the total hoard never saw the light of day and was kept in storage.
The figures for Carmarthenshire Council show it owns 2500 items but only around 129 pieces are on display at any time, with the total value remaining unknown. Hopefully the storage site isn't the archive strongrooms, currently suffering from a fungal contamination.
No one is suggesting that the council flogs off all the family silver to ease the budget and naturally the authority has a duty to protect and preserve works of art for future generations but surely there's quite a few relics which just aren't worth preserving?


The Executive Board

In other news the neighbouring council of Powys has fallen foul of the Wales Audit Office who have ordered an improvement...after 'failing to follow best practice when appointing consultants to advise on an improvement agenda'....
Full story in the Western Mail

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