STAFF numbers, opening hours and exhibitions at Worcester’s museums and galleries will all be cut back next year under the city council’s proposed programme of cuts.

Further details have emerged of how council bosses hope to make significant savings through a major shake-up of museum and gallery services, most notably by moving Worcester’s museum and art gallery on Foregate Street into the Guildhall in 2013.

Your Worcester News has reported how the city council has announced a raft of cut-backs to plug the £4.3 million hole in its budget.

Council leader Simon Geraghty believes the museum move would secure the future of the Guildhall while delivering long-term savings.

“We’re looking at how we can give the Guildhall a sustainable future,” he said. “The timing of the move is very much linked with the opening of the new library.”

The city’s existing library will move from the museum building in 2013 when Worcester’s new £60 million PFI-funded library opens.

Coun Geraghty said the council intends to move “aspects of the museum and art gallery” into the Guildhall at that time, before selling off the museum building to raise funds.

However, concerns have been raised by a member of Worcester Civic Society’s executive board about the Guildhall’s suitability as a museum and gallery venue.

Retired museum curator Richard Lockitt said: “I’d have to see the detail of how it would work, but it’s not obvious how the building would lend itself to being an art gallery and museum space.

“To my mind the Guildhall’s best rooms, the two main halls, are great architectural spaces, and you need to be able to see them – they don’t necessarily lend themselves to being filled with paintings or anything else.”

In the meantime, the public will see a reduction in museum services next year if the programme of cuts is approved.

The museum and gallery opening times will be reduced by two hours a day, saving £60,000 a year. Annual funding for exhibitions will also be cut by £20,000.

The Commandery will no longer open on Fridays during winter, saving a further £15,000 a year.

There will also be a staff “restructure” at the Commandery – saving £27,000 – after council papers revealed the civil war museum had “failed to achieve new income targets” and must find other ways “to reduce loss to a manageable level”.

The city hopes to save another £100,000-£150,000 a year from 2010 by merging museums management with Worcestershire County Council, and also intends to create a museum trust to take control of the service.

The trust would be expected to make its own financial contributions – otherwise, the city’s regimental museum will be forced “to close on certain dates”.

So, are there any winners?

STREET rats, home gardeners and late-night partyers are among the unlikely beneficiaries of the city council’s huge programme of planned cuts.

Council papers have revealed further details about some of the ways in which front-line services will deteriorate in Worcester if the cut-backs are agreed early next year.

The number of street-sweepers keeping city streets clean will be cut from four to three, while the amount of chewing gum removed from the streets will also be reduced significantly – something the papers say will have a “particular impact on cleanliness of High Street paving”.

The council’s pest control contract is to be terminated, meaning the city’s own pollution workers will have to provide the service – resulting in an “increase in the number of pests and complaints”.

Play areas and play equipment are to be reduced in number, as are hanging baskets, flower beds and free events in parks, while grass-cutting will be reduced around the city as Worcester moves towards “low maintenance” park services.

Licensing inspections will be slower, and there will no longer be an out-of-hours service provided by the city’s environmental health team – this means Friday-night noise complaints are unlikely to be dealt with until Monday morning.

There will be fewer dog signs and poop scoops, less pigeon control, and less money for Worcester in Bloom – meaning “consideration (is) to be given to the feasibility of continuing with the project”.

However, gardeners will welcome plans to introduce a £30-a-year garden waste collection service, which the council hopes will bring in some much needed extra-income.

The programme of cuts has not yet been finalised – the detail will be debated by the whole council over the coming weeks before a final decision is made in February.