ACCUSATIONS that Haslemere Museum and Haslemere Hall are still being short-changed by Waverley have been made by leading figures in the community. The criticism follows the borough council's latest grants recommendations in which the museum could receive £1,500 instead of the £25,000 requested. Haslemere Hall is in line for £2,000, £8,000 less than required. Town councillor James Mackie claimed that the town is continuing to miss out because there are fewer Haslemere-based councillors on Waverley than from other parts of the borough. "It is clear that there are far more Farnham councillors on Waverley council and it seems that there is always more money available for Farnham- based facilities," said Mr Mackie. "A few years back, when I was a Waverley councillor, I remember the museum receiving grants of £5,000 and then it went down to £3,500. Then last year it got nothing at all. We had hoped a substantially higher figure would have been offered this year to make up for that, but that isn't the case. This is really shocking." The Haslemere Hall chairman, John Sugden, has hit out at Waverley's recommended £2,000 grant for the hall, which he argued is putting the facility's future at risk. "I'm aware that Waverley is very constrained with funding but there is such a wide difference between the funding with Haslemere Hall and the memorial hall in Farnham. And as far as I know, the hall in Farnham is not used anywhere near as much as Haslemere Hall. This makes life very difficult for us." The sponsored organisation scheme provides financial support for revenue costs of voluntary and charitable organisations. To be eligible, the organisations must be identified as as delivering "high-priority" services which benefit the borough. Last year, the decision not to award the museum any funding was strongly attacked by the town council and interested parties. The borough council was accused of bias towards Farnham and treating Haslemere like "the poor relation". Adding insult to injury were the substantial sums awarded to the Waverley-owned Museum of Farnham which received almost a quarter of a million and a £70,000 allocation for Farnham's Memorial Hall. These grants were not part of the sponsored organisation scheme. Waverley argued that the independently-run Haslemere Museum has its own reserves and for this reason was not a priority. "Waverley is still putting large sums into Farnham and Godalming museums which are entirely Waverley-provided facilities," said town council representative for the museum, Michael Biddiscombe. "There is still a very wide difference with Haslemere Museum, which is still largely reliant on private donations. I'm pleased that something is being offered, but it's not an awful lot. "There is no doubt that the museum will soon see the day when it can no longer keep running without more help and I predict that could be as soon as five or six years' time." Mr Biddiscombe believed that the uproar following Waverley's decision to overlook the museum last year guaranteed some funding for this year. "The town council had a number of exchanges of views with Waverley. Gillian Ferguson (Waverley's deputy leader and portfolio holder for parishes, partnerships and local economy) came to look at the museum and achieved a better understanding of what it is and the service it provides," he said. Museum chairman Bernard Coe said: "At least we're back on the list. Waverley does have a very difficult task. Obviously we would like a lot more money but lots of people get nothing at all." Other local organisations due to receive grant funding are Haslemere and Cranleigh Citizens' Advice Bureau which has been recommended £90,860 and the Hindhead Luncheon Group which could receive £800. The recommendations will be discussed at Waverley's budget meeting on February 22. A spokesman for Waverley has refuted suggestions that Haslemere has missed out on funding, highlighting that £95,000 has gone directly towards Haslemere-based organisations in the last round of grants from the sponsored organisation scheme. Under Waverley's Community Partnerships Fund, £590,000 has been spent on projects in Haslemere including Haslemere museum. "Under Waverley's matched-funding scheme, Haslemere Museum was awarded £10,750 towards an art exhibition and workshops, £7,564 towards improving disabled access and £4,750 to support the refurbishment of their educational facilities," said the spokesman. "Haslemere Hall was awarded a further £3,652 over and above the £2,000 from the sponsored organisations scheme to improve the floor thus enabling them to provide more seating for a larger audience."
