Any thoughts on the lastest pipe dream in Southend
the MUSEUM in the cliffs .  Will it be an asset to the town another icon like the Supercasino, Remblance towers, the football stadium. Or atract millions of extra visitors like Lifelines has,or the high street 17 million makeover did.
What is it proposed to go in in the museum. a bit of gold from a saxon king (but they dont know which one). Some echo radios, a planeterium(how many use the one we got) oh and a resturant
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according the consultation that was carried out:

It would incorporate Southend Central Museum and the Beecroft Art Gallery, as well as the finds from the Saxon King grave excavated in Prittlewell in 2003.  The study concluded that a new, state of the art museum facility would be the answer to the problems with the current buildings.  Seven potential sites were considered and the best for long-term sustainability was the Cliffs Gardens site - which also offers the advantage of repairing and stabilising the cliff slip area.

Im not disputing the find was an important one But how much of the finds will the british museum actually let us have back ,as like the mary rose it needs special treatment to stop it crumbling away.
On the occasions that i have been to beecroft and the museum i have hardly had to push my way through crowds/
So in all honesty  How many people do you think will actually visit it  more than once.
If they can raise 25 million It would be at least 5 years before it opened. Would we not be better catering for the 6 million day trippers that come every year.
Just check out the other story that the head of enterprise and tourism is from an agency,so possibly she has not be checked out wether she can do the best job for southend.

Lat time I was over, I was fortunate to visit the Priory museum the day before it closed for 'restoration', so I hope the new building doesn't give them an excuse to can the work on this lovely old building. But the other angle is that Southend's 'interesting bits' are spread across Priory, the old Library, the Pier museum, Southchurch park, Beecroft and no doubt others - wasn't there also a museum somehere behind the Kursaall?  So there would seem to be a lot of stuff spread around and it might just make an interesting collection.  But I do see that with the council having a hand in it, any possibility of success is drastically reduced.

Yes Nick it would be of great interest to you and i and people on this site.But honestlyhow many people do you think it will attract to southend more than once. The money being given to consultants is southends money. The time and effort wasted on trying to chase 25 million could be spent on turning the town into a family seaside resort.Just look at the councils C.V. on projects using grants its hardley impressive.

Nick wrote on Jun 16^th, 2010 at 2:30pm:

Cant see it happening due to the upcoming financial constraints.  FredW

poman38 wrote on Jun 19^th, 2010 at 6:16pm:


Giz a Job -- I could do that

yes i was a 60s folkie motorcyclerocker.
  The council deny that the trees removed from the cliffs had any effect on the slippage, or even that there are natural springs in the cliffs.