Last summer I published an article on this site confirming that the DLI (Durham Light Infantry) military collection and archive was scheduled to be moved to its new permanent home in the Durham History Centre at Mount Oswald.
This followed an open admission by the Tory-led coalition in a council meeting last June that the site where the DLI museum used to be will be reopened as a high-end restaurant and art gallery - and it was revealed just recently that their vanity project will come at an initial capital cost of £15m, with additional running costs of £600k every year.
During the same council meeting the coalition also admitted that the DLI collection itself would be installed permanently at the new Mount Oswald History Centre - a project commissioned by the previous Labour administration for precisely that purpose.
Full details can be found in the article published last year: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-permanent-home-for-dli-collection-at.html
However, earlier this week the coalition issued a deliberately misleading press release implying that the site of the former DLI museum building at Aykley Heads is about to re-open as the permanent home of the DLI collection.
Understandably coalition members will be desperate for a positive story following their decision last week to hike council tax by a record 5% at a time when households across the county are struggling through the most damaging cost of living crisis in a generation - but exploiting the sensitivities around the former DLI grounds and collection simply to deflect public attention from their mishandling of the council’s budget is a low blow.
Prior to the coalition releasing its statement this week about the DLI collection the Labour group issued its own press release urging the coalition to come clean about its true intentions for the land and building where the DLI museum and collection used to be.
DLI collection move prompts call for clarity on former Museum site
AS preparations begin to move much-loved military exhibits into Durham’s new History Centre, Labour has once again demanded clarity on Council plans for its former home.
For over five years, memorabilia from the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) collection has been housed at Palace Green Library. This week it will begin to be moved to The Story, the £20m state of the art history centre at Mount Oswald’s commissioned by the former Labour administration.
However, uncertainty still surrounds the former DLI Museum building at Aykley Heads, which the Tory-led Coalition running the Council admitted last summer that a plan to “reopen the DLI Museum” was nothing more than a blueprint to create a posh eatery.
Labour Deputy Leader, Cllr Rob Crute, said: “In June, I asked Coalition leaders “where will the DLI collection be going?”, and after a load of bluster and confusion, they confirmed it will be displayed in the new Mount Oswald History Centre.
“So, what exactly is happening to the former DLI Museum? The Coalition has played on the emotional connection people have with our proud DLI history, dangling the carrot of its re-opening and claiming it’s fulfilling an election promise to “reopen the DLI Museum”, but the building is practically derelict and deemed unusable by the DLI Trustees.
“It’s quite right that the entire collection should be moved to The Story at the new Mount Oswald History Centre – a project purposely commissioned by the previous Labour administration to house the collection in its entirety and showcase this incredible part of our history and also store the County Archives...but what are the plans are for the former DLI Museum?
“The Coalition revealed proposals last year to create a high-end restaurant at the former DLI Museum, exhibiting a few items from the DLI collection as a token gesture, to try and hide the fact it wanted to use Taxpayers’ money to fund what is nothing more than an exclusive eatery.”
Labour Leader, Cllr Carl Marshall, said: “The re-siting of the DLI collection to The Story is a perfect time to remind the people in our county that the same Tories running the Council who had to be shamed into feeding hungry children during the pandemic, plan to use money allocated for cultural activities from our City of Culture bid to open a posh restaurant at the old DLI Museum – it’s beyond shameful.
“The Story history centre is a Labour project that many in the Coalition rejected. It is large enough to house the entire DLI collection as well as the County Archive. And as it’s about to welcome in these incredible exhibits, surely the time has come for the Tory-led Coalition to let us all in on its plans for the former DLI Museum...and how much its plan is going to cost taxpayers.”
