SUPPORTERS of a former museum which was closed down due to budget cuts more than a year ago have reacted with dismay after it emerged that the Council has spent almost £30,000 on the empty building's upkeep in 12 months.

Kirklees Council, which owns the Grade II listed 17th-century Red House building in Gomersal, closed the museum's doors to the public in December 2016. But it was not until April last year that the building was fully vacated by the museums service.

Since then a total of £27,829.27 has been spent from April 2017 to March 2018, covering such things as repairs, servicing, maintenance - and is almost the same amount as it cost the authority to run while it was functioning as a museum. The information has been released to the Telegraph & Argus under Freedom of Information rules.

Some of the larger amounts include: £8,500 in September 2017 on internal building fabric maintenance; £3,720 in June 2017 on grounds maintenance; £2,900 in August 2017 on electrical testing.

In addition there is a one of rental income of almost £700 in January 2018 - part of a guardian scheme to keep the property safe while it is empty.

Erica Amende of Spen Valley Civic Society said it was interesting how much money was being spent on the empty museum and that she feared it would be some time before the Council disposed of it.

"With respect to Red House the Civic Society’s view is that its closure continues to dismay local residents.

"The Civic Society thinks that it could have been better marketed for its heritage contents and Bronte connections, given the high number of foreign tourists visiting Bronte sites.

"A lot of local historical artefacts in the museum are now not accessible to the public, and there has been no information from the Council about that has happened to them, or any alternative strategy for making them accessible to local people in the future."

The museum was itself a victim of budget cuts within the authority's museums and galleries departments, which was slashed by half.

Initially local groups interested in taking over the building in a community asset transfer were asked to come forward, but none of the three bids were considered suitable.

The former cloth merchant's home was frequently visited by Charlotte Bronte and featured in her novel Shirley.

Paul Kemp, service director of economy, regeneration and culture at Kirklees Council, said: “The closure of Red House Museum was part of a plan to transform Kirklees Council’s Museums and Galleries offer so that it could provide improved customer services for 21st century audiences in the context of a reduced budget. The savings from closure of the museum will exceed the costs of securing the building in the short term until it is disposed of.

"The guardian scheme is a cost effective, efficient means of security that we have used on many occasions. The guardians act as in house security and our experience is that this greatly reduces the risk of vandalism, break ins and anti-social behaviour.

"There is a minimal cost to the council for this scheme as the company which provides the guardians recover the majority of their costs from the fees they charge to the individual guardians."

He added that the marketing of the site for disposal would begin later this year.