Belper North Mill Trust will retain a presence at the North Mill and offer guided tours to the public from April 2023.
Following the loss of Amber Valley Borough Council grant funding the Trust was forced to close its museum on 30 September 2022. This has implications for all those that support us: funders, volunteers, visitors, staff and trustees.
Public access to the North Mill museum has ended as has the Trust’s ability to display its collection on site in support of our objectives to inform the public about Belper and the Strutt’s role in the Derwent Valley and the North Mill itself.
The Trust has also been notified that its long standing grant from Belper Town Council will end from April 2023.
Trustees have taken the following decisions.
- The Trust will retain a presence at the North Mill to provide an operating base for our loyal and passionate volunteers who will provide guided tours of the Belper Mills site (including the North Mill’s unique basement) and the surrounding area.
- Also, the Trust is working with the Arkwright Society to ensure that the most important items from our previous museum collection will be on public display at Cromford Mills.
- Additionally, in conjunction with the Arkwright Society, an Education offer will continue on an outreach basis and a programme of guided heritage walks is also planned.
More detail on these activities will be shared in our 2023 programme which will be released soon.
The Trustees – February 2023
Supplementary information
This is added information to provide interested parties with essential background to the announcement by the Trustees in February 2023
Who are Belper North Mill Trust?
The Trust is a registered charity and is run by Trustees with the support of an experienced and committed volunteer base and two part time staff.
We aim to celebrate, interpret and educate about the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site (DVMWHS), with a particular reference to Belper.
Until 30th September 2022, the charity operated both a museum and visitor centre at Belper North Mill. We attracted around 4,000 visitors a year in the museum and on our walks and talks. A further 2,000 visit the visitor centre.
The Trustees have made the difficult decision to close the museum and visitor centre on 30 September 2022.
Recent developments
We have reached agreement with our landlord to allow us to continue visitor services in 2023 and beyond. Our plans for activities based in Belper offer in 2023 will now include guided tours of the Belper Mills area (including the North Mill basement). This will be able to bring the story of the Strutts and the start of the “modern” factory system to life in 2023 onwards
Our new lease (at Archway House, which is adjacent to the previous museum) provides the Trust with a space that volunteers and trustees can use to plan their activities. Volunteers and visitors will have rights of access to the Belper Mills complex and the basement of North Mill. If the lease had not been agreed public access to the Belper Mills complex would have ended.
So what is the long term plan for a heritage offer at the Belper Mills site?
Our long term preference is to have a financially viable quality heritage offer at the Belper Mills site, integral with the overall redevelopment of the site. The recent Derbyshire County Council report “Options for a Visitor Centre at Belper” identified various options for how such a centre could operate. The Trust is in support of development at the Belper Mills site as identified in that report.
Additionally, the current owners in their opening paragraph of the Belper Mills site Planning Statement stated “First Investment Real Estate Management (‘FIREM’) has a Vision to provide new homes, leisure and business uses to the Mills to complement the North Mill Museum and existing business to create a visitor destination that celebrates the importance of Belper Mills as part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Sites”. We share their vision of a visitor destination worthy of representing the World Heritage Site.
The timeline on any redevelopment of the Belper Mills site is uncertain and is linked to the resolution of the current planning application. It is difficult to foresee any material development of the heritage offer within the next five years. However, the Trust has earmarked reserves towards match funding heritage related external funding grants on the site – if that opportunity should arise.
In the meantime, following withdrawal of annual grants from both Amber Valley Borough Council and Belper Town Council towards funding our heritage offer, the interest accrued from investing our reserves are our primary source of income and help to subsidise our annual running costs.
For any viable public heritage based offer to operate from the site will require the collaboration and support of a number of stakeholders (Local Authorities, the Belper Mills owner, Historic England and external funding bodies). The Trust supports this approach. Our Trustees wish to retain an important role in the evolution and implementation of a future new visitor attraction worthy of a World Heritage Site. This will require close working with other organisations including the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust, Arkwright Society and the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Co-ordinating team.
For further information – our previous Position Statement updates – available on our website Strutts North Mill Museum Belper (belpernorthmill.org.uk)provide more detail on the changes over the past few years