The Keep Opening Hours Consultation

Overview

We are asking for your views on our proposed changes to opening hours at The Keep.

The Keep is an archive centre that offers free public access to the collections of the East Sussex & Brighton & Hove Record Office, Brighton and Hove Local History Collections, the University of Sussex Special Collections as well as some of the collections from the Royal Pavilion and Museums. We also run pre-bookable public workshops, tours and events, as well as providing teaching space for the University of Sussex. 

The Keep is run in partnership between East Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council and the University of Sussex.

You can find out more about The Keep on our website at www.thekeep.info/

These are draft proposals and we welcome your views on them, including alternative proposals for changes to opening hours. In addition, we welcome different suggestions, other than a reduction in opening hours, which could make the required savings to the running costs of The Keep.

We would like to hear your views regardless of whether you currently use The Keep. Your views will enable us to develop final proposals that will be considered by The Keep partnership in late 2020. If we do decide to make any changes to opening hours, they would not be implemented before April 2021. 

Why your views matter

Funding for local government is reducing significantly. As a result, East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council are having to make tough choices about how services are run across all departments.  

We are considering ways to cut the costs of running The Keep by £125,000 a year, including a proposal to reduce The Keep’s opening hours.  

What would change?

We have looked at data on how The Keep is currently used and conducted new surveys of our customers.  We’re proposing that The Keep should open half an hour later and close one hour earlier on most days.  

The Keep would remain open on the five days per week it currently opens but it would be closed to the public in the afternoon on Thursdays and Saturdays.

What wouldn’t change?

The Keep is currently closed on Sundays and Mondays.  This wouldn’t change.

None of the services currently offered at The Keep would be affected by the proposed changes to opening hours.  You would still be able to do all of the things you currently do at The Keep during the proposed new opening hours, including attending pre-bookable public workshops, tours and events (although at present some of these activities are limited because of coronavirus).  

The use of The Keep for teaching by the University of Sussex would also not be affected by the proposed changes.

We are asking for your views about this proposal.

How to take part in this consultation

The consultation runs for six weeks from Monday 14 September to Sunday 25 October 2020.

We will do all we can to make it as easy as possible for everyone to have their say. 

There are a number of ways you can give us your views:

• By completing this online survey 
• By picking up a copy of the survey at The Keep
• By printing a copy of the survey at the bottom of this page 

Completed surveys can be returned to the drop off point at The Keep or posted back to us at:

The Keep Consultation, West D, County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, BN7 1UE

If you have any questions about this consultation, need help to take part, or need a copy of the information in a different format or another language, please contact us by email at keep.feedback@eastsussex.gov.uk or by phone 01273 336003.

Privacy
This consultation is anonymous, although we do ask respondents to complete an optional 'About You' section at the end. You will find more information in that relevant section. 

Please make sure that any comments you submit don't include any names or personal details of you or anyone else. For more information about how the data will be stored and processed by East Sussex County Council, please contact the consultation team.

Read the full privacy notice here: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/privacy/consultation-hub/.

What happens next

Your views will enable us to develop final proposals that will be considered by The Keep partnership in late 2020. If we do decide to make any changes to opening hours, they will not be implemented before April 2021.