A NORTH Cornwall town council has responded to criticism of its treatment of a historic site.

Launceston Town Council has recently come under fire regarding the ongoing treatment of the Lawrence House Museum in the town, however, it has said it is working ‘promptly’ to progress works.

The Georgian town house was built in 1753, and is leased to Launceston Town Council by the National Trust, to be used as a local museum and civic centre.

The museum is spread over three floors with exhibits that focus predominantly on local history including Launceston's association with Australia.

The site also features a toy room where children can play, a Victorian kitchen that features an original range and mangle, and a display which features a collection of costumes that date from the eighteenth century right through to the 1960s.

However, it was recently announced that the museum would be moving to an external site to house and protect exhibits whilst renovations were made.

For the last year, the building has been penciled for repair, however, there has reportedly been very little movement in getting it back into a usable condition.

This has led to a number of locals expressing their frustration with the town council and its lack of progress.

Launceston resident Michael Warne wrote to the Post to share his concerns.

He said: “What is Launceston Town Council (LTC) now proposing for the museum at Lawrence House now that its grandiose scheme for renovating the property has been given the thumbs down by Historic England so that its planning application has been withdrawn?

“That is the question that scores of volunteers who prepare exhibitions, act as stewards, carry out gardening at Lawrence House or otherwise help the running of the museum would like answered.

“LTC has a full repairing lease of the building from the National Trust. The councillors are also trustees of the charity which looks after the collection of artefacts which have been given to the museum and are periodically on display.

“The first thing that went wrong was that in 2020 during the first Covid lockdown the leaking roof and chimney, which should have been repaired years ago, brought some ceilings down rendering the property unusable.

“LTC has taken four years just to make Lawrence House wind and watertight. An application for planning permission and listed building consent went in this spring but was withdrawn when Historic England objected to several of the proposals. Why were all the people who needed to consent approached and asked for their consent years ago?”

Launceston Town Council has since responded to the criticism. Lead officer on the project, Martin Cornish said the council is acting ‘promptly’ to move forward.

He said: “The town council have had a recent pushback from Historic England regarding a planning application for the internal refurbishment of the museum. I feel it pertinent to add at this point that Historic England are in favour of works being undertaken at the museum. This was voiced in a recent onsite meeting with their Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas for Cornwall.

“Off the back of this meeting the council were advised by Historic England to undertake a Heritage Impact Assessment for Lawrence House to support a re-submission. In short, an assessment of this ilk will produce an analytical historic building record for the Museum. The statement will analyse the buildings historical and architectural significance, identifying it phases of construction and relating its plan, elevations, fixtures and fittings to its more than special interest The objective will be to produce a document to support ongoing conservation works and future applications.

“The council acted promptly on the above advice and instructed consultants to undertake the impact assessment. I have been assured that I will be in receipt of the report within the next couple of weeks. Once unpicking the findings, the Council will then work with Historic England about the next steps towards expediting the project.”

Despite concern, Mr Cornish added that significant investment has been made to ‘safeguard’ the building.

He continued: “I would oppose the concerns of the building falling into disrepair. Over the past 18 months, a significant amount of investment, coupled with a sizeable proportion of councillor, council staff and museum volunteers time having been spent to safeguard the building.

“From the outset this has always been seen as a two-stage process and barring minor works to the front of the house (of which conversations are ongoing with Historic England) the exterior phase is practically complete. The council retains a proportion of funding attained via DLUCH funding in 2022 for the interior phase of works.

“The building is, as you put, currently unusable, but the vision wholeheartedly remains to deliver a reimagined museum for all.”

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