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The meeting
Save Wildwalk’s campaign coordinator met with CEO of At-Bristol, Dr Goéry Delacôte, and others on 8th March to discuss some of the pressing questions that we and those signing our petition have been asking. Below are our questions and written answers provided by At-Bristol…
When will a final decision will be made regarding the closure?
A decision will have to be made by 31 March 2007, before the organisation proceeds into its new financial year in April. However, it is important that we first go through a period of consultation with our employees and the final decision will only be made when this process is completed. The public will be duly notified when the decision is finalised.
What financial support has been given by the Council over the past six years?
At-Bristol is very appreciative of the council’s support and believe that they have already done what’s necessary. At-Bristol requested a loan of £500,000 in 2003 to help fund the gap. However, the request was withdrawn as At-Bristol managed to seek short-term funding from other sources.
Save Wildwalk approached the Council’s accounts department for further answers and has understood the following:
Of the £19M invested in total by the Council, most of it – around £17.4M was given by the Council at the beginning. Of this, about £10M was the value of the land and buildings donated by the Council. Since then, there has been no direct financial support from the Council but the Council have passed on their share of the revenue from the car park worth around £250K annually.
When did the issue of closing Wildwalk and the IMAX first became a strong possibility?
At-Bristol fought hard on all possible avenues and this include seeking support from central government. The proposal became apparent as the most viable option for At-Bristol’s long-term future, after a thorough fundraising review when we came to a final conclusion sometime in last October that it is very unlikely that any funders would provide unrestricted support to the level required to help sustain the organisation.
Why was such a short timescale given between announcement and proposed closure?
It would have put At-Bristol in a delicate situation with their potential funders.
Why does there appear to have been so little publicity regarding the closure?
A press release was sent out to all the key media influencers, including BBC Points West, iTV West, Evening Post, Western Daily Press, GWR and Radio Bristol. The announcement was made the headlines and remained the hot topic in the local press over the next few weeks since the first initial announcement. The news was also picked up by Bath Chronicle, Swindon Advertiser and featured on The Politics Show West. The press release was also uploaded onto the At-Bristol’s website. At-Bristol has duly made the official announcement to all media, unfortunately, it’s the media’s discretion whether they choose to cover the story or not.
Why have some members apparently not been made aware of the closure?
At-Bristol informed all members shortly after the closure, and are offering extended membership to compensate for the loss of Wildwalk and IMAX.
If – as requested in our petition – short term funds to cover this year’s funding gap (around £1.5M) become available, would At-Bristol be prepared to keep Wildwalk open while National Government consider Save Wildwalk’s petition request for better support of English Science Centres?
No. Plugging the funding gap for a year is a short-term measure. At-Bristol hopes to achieve long-term financial stability, so that they can fully concentrate on developing their strengths while keeping costs at a manageable level.
Save Wildwalk was informed by someone else who also had a meeting with Dr Delacôte that “to save Wildwalk would need 3 years of funding for restructuring it, which would be at least £3m”. Therefore, Save Wildwalk posed the question that if we could somehow (by a small miracle!) find this larger sum of money to invest into restructuring and improving Wildwalk to encourage more repeat visitors and make it financially viable in the long term, would At-Bristol agree to invest it into Wildwalk for that purpose?
No. Based on At-Bristol’s experience in fundraising, the process is a complex one and to raise such a huge amount within 2-3 weeks is a massive committment for any individual or even a team to undertake. At-Bristol believes it’s unfair to encourage, knowing that the idea is not feasible when a concrete plan hasn’t been put in place on the onset by Save Wildwalk to raise this amount. In addition, Save Wildwalk can’t provide the guarantee at this stage that this solution would materialise.
In the meantime, At-Bristol wants the public to know that every single support counts for them and its future, they hope to continue receiving the public’s support in sustaining the charity.
A future for Wildwalk?
It is clear that At-Bristol’s intention is to focus on Explore. Wildwalk remaining part of At-Bristol, and being funded, restructured and improved as such, is no longer an option.
Wildwalk has been an important and valuable educational facility which has not achieved its full potential and demonstrated its effect on the current generation of children that have visited it. The concept, building and contents should not be lost, especially considering the significant funds invested to date.
The best way forward now, is to put forward a proposal for a new – and improved – natural history facility to take the place of Wildwalk in the current building. This proposal would obviously be competing with other proposals for the new use of the building.
Save Wildwalk’s campaign coordinator is now developing a creative proposal for such a facility, alongside someone who has had considerable experience with successful natural history visitor attractions. This is an exciting vision for a facility which would make full use of the Wildwalk/IMAX buildings as they currently stand, with some modifications. It would build on all that is loved about Wildwalk, taking the concept to another level, and to its full potential – providing an immersive experience to become a popular and financially sustainable, as well as educational, attraction and one that Bristol would be proud to have at its heart.
The plan is to identify potential individuals or organisations with the significant and relevant experience and a proven track record who could take this vision and ideas, put forward a financially and practically sound proposal, and turn it into a deliverable project.
And the campaign?
It is still Save Wildwalk’s intention to petition the Government regarding better provision of funding for English Science Centres, as we believe this is an important issue, and a new educational natural history facility would still benefit from financial support from the Government. Therefore, please continue to sign the petition, if you would still like to see a natural history facility in this building, and would like to see more support from the Government for Science Centres.
Save Wildwalk is meeting with the Council leader, Barbara Janke, and Simon Cook, the Council’s executive member for health promotion, young people and leisure, on April 2nd to discuss the campaign and the ideas regarding a new natural history facility. Please check back here for developments…