Outrage as Labour council hands £850k for café revamp despite 'diabolical financial state'

Labour city council plans to spend £850,000 on a new museum cafe that was previously closed due to not being "financially viable" have been met with outrage.

The huge spend on the leisure space is part of a £3.9m revamp of Leicester's Victorian musuem with the food and drinks venue set to replace a space previously filled with taxidermy exhibits.

The large payout comes as the Labour city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby warned the authority was in a "very difficult and painful position" financially. Sir Peter previously said a Section 114 notice, meaning the council was effectively bankrupt, was a “real prospect”.

Now a cross-party group of Green, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors have written a report to the city council challenging the museum cafe spend when the authority is in such a "truly diabolical financial state".

Councillor Hemant Rae Bhatia, Leader of the Leicester Conservative Group, said: "The council is about to go bankrupt and on the other hand he (the mayor) keeps spending money on such fancy schemes.

"There used to be a cafe before which the council itself shut down because of lack of use, so what's the point of spending so much more money now again to resurect something which is not viable fiancially.

"We have a shortage of money, neighbourhoods are really crying out loud of investment, but the city mayor keeps spending the scarce amount of money that is available to us on such schemes, that's why we have called it out.

"In good times with surplus money, money is never surplus, but at least when we have a reasonable financial situation where the priorities are tackled then investment in cultural things is important, and the museum is part of that.

"But not at this juncture when people are really struggling and the city mayor himself keeps saying we could go under Section 114, and on the other hand he keeps spending such money.

"It doesn't make sense, it doesn't add up and that is why we are saying,'think again', we're not against it but bring it at a time when it is reasonable, not at this juncture.

Cllr Bhatia added that the Labour council had invested millions in road schemes locally but without much positive change to infrastucture.

He continued: "The Labour admistration has been here for a very long time and all we have seen is a decline in finances, primarily due to wrong priorities I would call it.

"Narrowing down of the roads, cycle lanes, bus lanes, people are saying, 'hang on a minute, why this?', neighbourhoods are struggling with so many other issues, people are feeling pain.

"Fly-tipping, cleanliness, so many aspects of peoples' lives need attention. The adventure playground has been shut down, and then they spend £3.9 million on the museum, it doesn't add up. People are really fed up with this kind of prioritisation."

Green councillor Patrick Kitterick added: "With the Labour Council planning to cut all the funding from the city's adventure playgrounds for children, and to slash funding from the city's children's centre network, it is unbelievable that they are taking money from some of the most disadvantaged children in Leicester and deciding to spend it on a museum cafe."

Cllr Kitterick's colleague Cllr Mick Gregg continued: "We would much prefer any spare 'capital' budget to be redirected to be spent on saving the adventure playgrounds or making the pavilion on nearby Victoria Park better ready to host a new cafe."

According to the BBC, the report from the group of councillors, which will trigger a meeting on the plans for the cafe, said: "Despite the council being in a truly diabolical financial state, the Labour leadership still appears determined to waste millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash on ill-conceived vanity projects.

"Most sensible people would agree with us when we say that a new council cafe is not a priority, especially as the council is on the brink of bankruptcy and cannot even afford to support the adventure playgrounds or SEND transport. "

A spokesperson for Leicester City Council told Express.co.uk:

A council spokesperson said: "The cost of closing and refurbishing the old Wild Space gallery and moving the café into the space will be around £850,000.

"This will enable us to create a self-contained café with access from New Walk, and means we will be able to open the café to the public when the museum is closed, which is not currently an option.

"Soft-market testing has shown there is a demand for this from café operators. The bulk of the fit-out would be paid for by the chosen operator, and the council would receive income from them.

"The design of the new space would also reveal historic rooflights and columns. Other works funded as part of the £3.9m include the creation and redisplay of art galleries and a new social history gallery; the relocation of the Victorian Art Gallery stage; essential maintenance work to roof and ventilation systems (part Arts Council funded); a revamp of the reception and shop; and a contribution of match funding for an application to the National Heritage Lottery Fund to develop and create new galleries, including climate change galleries.”