Archive: This article describes a 2024 campaign. The museum opened in a temporary home next to Buxton Library in October 2026.
In March 2024, local business group Vision Buxton and the We Are Buxton community forum campaigned for the future of Buxton Museum and Art Gallery after the closure of its Terrace Road home.
Vision Buxton launched a petition, and We Are Buxton organised a gathering on 8 June 2024 to mark a year since the closure. The Friends of Buxton Museum and Art Gallery later reported that the gathering took place.
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, run by Derbyshire County Council, closed its former building on 1 June 2023 after dry rot was found in structural timbers.
In May 2024, the council decided to relocate the museum, citing the likely cost and time needed to repair Peak Buildings. The museum later reported that the building was sold in January 2025. The museum reopened in a temporary building next to Buxton Library in October 2026; work to find a permanent home continues.
The 2024 campaign raised concerns about progress on the building and the absence of a clear alternative venue. Those concerns reflected the position and information available to campaigners at the time.
Campaigners feared the museum might not reopen in Buxton. The council said in 2024 that it remained committed to a museum service in the town.
“It is unthinkable that Buxton, with all its rich heritage, should be without our museum and we need to know where we stand with DCC and what they intend to do about the building itself, the collection and the museum staff’s jobs… Museums make a positive difference in communities, giving pride in their history, creating jobs and providing education to schools and we must do all we can to preserve them.”
Cathy Grange, resident and Vision Buxton member via PrintExpress
Financial concerns in 2024
Campaigners questioned how the council’s financial pressures might affect the museum. In November 2023, the council reported that its forecast 2023/24 overspend had fallen from £46.4 million to £33 million. Those figures were forecasts for 2023/24, rather than a 2024/25 deficit.
The campaign expressed concern about the museum’s future despite the council’s public commitment to the service. The council subsequently attributed its decision to leave Peak Buildings to the cost and time required to make it safe.
The original report also referred to proposed changes to the museum in 2019 and said they had been shelved during the pandemic.
An invaluable resource
The museum’s 2022 infographic recorded around 30,000 visits. It also reported £225,735 in local economic impact for 2021/22, citing the Annual Museum Survey.
The former museum offered free admission and family activities. It was designated a warm space in 2022, and the museum described a new children’s play area in a December 2022 update.
“This is a vital building at the heart of the cultural life of Buxton.”
Stephen Walker, resident and chair of Buxton Festival Fringe.
The campaign highlighted the museum’s educational role. Discover Buxton founder Netta Christie said in 2024:
Buxton museum is an invaluable tool in supporting our telling of the history of the town. It provided support, research and importantly was able to extend the experience of the visitor in providing in-depth information. We benefitted from their knowledge, experience and creativity and importantly their willingness to build and extend the telling of our collective past .The closure of such an important town asset, not only robs the community of its understanding of a shared past, but actively prevents the hands-on learning that enables both adults and children to see and touch their heritage. They are the custodians of our past and our culture and help us all to better see one another, they validate us.”
The 2024 gathering
The We Are Buxton Community Forum organised the June 2024 gathering to demonstrate support for the museum and concern for its future.
Vision Buxton chair Roddie MacLean said at the time:
“The museum is so much more than just a building and, as a town, we should come together to demand progress so that this important resource is not allowed to be lost.”
Petition
The petition is now closed. Its page records 5,248 supporters.
2017 redevelopment
The Wonders of the Peak gallery was redeveloped in 2017 as part of the Collections in the Landscape project. The museum’s opening-day account records a £868,100 Heritage Lottery Fund award, with additional support from Arts Council England, the Wolfson Foundation and others.
Collections
The collection includes objects from Buxton and the wider Peak District, as well as photographs such as the J. R. Board collection. The museum’s online object histories explore some of the collection.
Event Venue
The former museum hosted events for the Buxton Festival Fringe and the Derbyshire Open art exhibition. Fringe chair Stephen Walker said during the 2024 closure:
“The museum is a key venue for us and entrants will already be planning their events for July… it is a big blow to our Visual Arts category, particularly the loss of the prestigious Derbyshire Open. The Fringe is anxious that everything is being done to ensure that Buxton Museum will reopen as soon as possible.”
The original 2024 report said volunteers at the neighbouring Green Man Gallery had noticed a significant drop in footfall following the closure.
Political response in 2023–24
In June 2023, then High Peak MP Robert Largan met culture secretary Lucy Frazer to discuss the closure. The original campaign report said he had raised the museum’s future with the council.
The 2024 report quoted a council update provided to Mr Largan:
“Alternative locations for temporary and long-term, display and storage of objects are being considered, and a collections management programme will be put in place to support this. Once the decant is completed, the museum staff will turn their attention to developing this programme and also to finalising proposals for the Museum Service; you will appreciate these are being considered within the context of the Council’s overall budget challenges and its need to optimise use of all its buildings.”
Financial Support
Campaigners also questioned how regeneration funding could support the museum.
Suggestions raised in 2024
Suggestions
In 2024, campaigners suggested possible approaches including:
- The museum and collections are moved to a different building, like the Town Hall, and BMAG continues there
- DCC gifts the artefacts and collections into the care of an independent organisation, such as a trust, charity or not-for-profit, with the aim of running an independent museum
At the time, Buxton Civic Association chief executive Dave Green called for more discussion and dialogue about the museum’s future.
Questions
The 2024 campaign also raised these questions:
- What is DCC legally committed to deliver with respect to displaying and facilitating access to the collections?
- Who owns the artefacts and collections held by the Museum?
- What town archives does the Museum hold?
- What does “DCC is committed to a museum service” really mean? How small could it go?
- Would DCC consider handing over the museum?
- Could DCC help support a transition to an independent museum with the current museum staff working to create it?
- Why wasn’t the dry rot addressed when it was re-developed in 2017?
- What does the 2017 redevelopment funding commit the museum to provide and for how long? Are they breaching contracts by remaining closed?
- Might the museum move out of Buxton?
- Wasn’t the Wonders of the Peak collection donated on the understanding that it remains in Buxton?
- Are there plans to hold the Derbyshire Open Arts competition this year in another venue in Buxton or town in Derbyshire?
- If its closure was a cost-cutting exercise at heart, how long will the museum staff be employed to look after the collections and museum assets?
- Will the upcoming elections delay any work or decision-making about BMAG?
- Will it become a political chess piece between the Conservative-led DCC and Labour-led HPBC?
- Are other repairs to the building needed?
- Has any external funding been explored for repairs?
- What are the building requirements for a new Museum?
- How much would it cost to sort out the building?
The campaigners intended to discuss these questions with council representatives. In June 2024, the council told the Museums Association that the 2017 works concerned the gallery and did not identify dry rot at the time.
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