At the recent Full Council meeting, Councillor Justin Tomlinson has once again brought the performance of STEAM museum to the attention of the whole Council. Having previously requested for regular progress to be presented to the Full Council, a further request to include attendance figures has been made.
STEAM has struggled to reach project targets with visitor attendances well below target since it first opened in June 2000. Councillor Nick Martin (Conservative, Shaw & Nine Elms) through his work as the Scrutiny Chairman has highlighted the danger that STEAM could face running up a loss of £700 000 this financial year. This is the same figure as our current overspend in Social Services, and the equivilent of a 1.5% rise in Council Tax.
The Conservatives believe everything must be done to prevent further losses. We need to look at the costs, and the ways which STEAM tries to attract customers.
With the Council Tax set to rocket yet again under Labour, we must do everything we can to make sure the Council money is spent wisely.