Memorandum submitted by The Cutty Sark
Trust
As you may be aware, the Cutty Sark Trust has
applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £11.75 million to
support a £25 million conservation project for the ship.
The fabric of the ship is severely corroded and unless this is
addressed urgently, we are advised by our structural surveyors,
she will close as a visitor attraction in 2007. The ship is the
only major attraction within the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage
site without a public subsidy, and is neither able to fund this
conservation programme itself, nor re-present the ship for 21st
century audiences. Nevertheless, the ship attracts more than 160,000
paying visitors a year, which makes her one of the country's leading
independent visitor attractions. She is of course enjoyed by millions
more who visit Greenwich, and she is undoubtedly one of the most
famous ships in the world.
Our plans, set out in 1,400 pages of documentation
supporting our bid, are both to ensure that the ship requires
no substantial conservation work for the next half century and
to ensure that she is enjoyed by the widest possible audiences.
Unfortunately, in the intense competition for
HLF grants, we face a quadruple whammy:
1. HLF officials have already indicated their
view that Greenwich has already received substantial Lottery funding,
and I am therefore concerned that geographical location may have
a greater sway in the decision process than heritage merit.
2. We were advised by HLF not to submit a
bid in excess of £10 million, which leaves us with a very
substantial fundraising target.
3. The same advice does not seem to have
been given to the Royal Festival Hall, which has bid for £24
million, and which, if successful, will take the bulk of the available
pot. The maritime heritage sector, though popular just does not
have the political clout of the arts lobby.
4. Changes in VAT regulations, although designed
to benefit charities, will actually take away the Trust's entitlement
to reclaim the bulk of VAT on the project, adding almost £4
million to the cost of the project.
We have largely exhausted our reserves in bringing
forward this bid (which is indeed our second attempt—a bid
in 1999 having been referred). Although HLF gave us a project
planning grant last year of £50,000, it has cost the Trust
in excess of £600,000 to bring this bid forward.
Therefore am writing to ask whether, given the
status of Cutty Sark as the country's premier historic merchant
ship, you would consider a one session enquiry to look into ways
in which the committee can assist and support the application
to the Heritage Lottery Fund to ensure the survival of this national
monument.
30 September 2004
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