Leeds Council consultation on reducing Lotherton Hall and Thwaite Watermill opening days

Leeds City Council is carrying out a public consultation on the Lotherton Hall stately home near Aberford and Thwaite Watermill, one of the last remaining examples of a water-powered mill in Britain.

Residents are being asked for their views on whether the council should reduce public opening hours at the sites.

It is proposed that £67,000 would be saved by reducing the public opening hours of Lotherton Hall - only the hall itself and not the estate or Wildlife World - from every day to weekends and up to 13 weeks of the year such as school holidays.

The proposal for Thwaite Watermill being consulted on is to save £70,000 by cutting its school holidays opening.

The latter attraction is only currently open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4pm but during school holidays it opens from Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4.30pm. School visits take place during the week in term time when the site is closed to the general public.

It was previously announced that the council could cut more than 600 jobs across its departments.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said the city has a “world class cultural offering” but faces “unprecedented and daunting financial challenges”, including a £119m gap in the budget for April 2021 to March 2022 and the impact of coronavirus.

They said: “As part of that planning, Leeds City Council is currently reviewing a number of service areas across the authority, including a public consultation on changes to some parts of our culture portfolio. This will give us the chance to identify potential savings whilst protecting front line services and jobs as much as possible.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Leeds continues to boast a diverse programme of cultural activity but we cannot ignore the scale of the financial challenges we face as a city. We would encourage everyone to take part in the consultation and have their say about the future of culture in Leeds.”

Lotherton Hall and Estate were presented to the people of Leeds in 1968 by Sir Alvary Gascoigne and have been open to the public since.

The council said it was the sixth most visited paid-for attraction in Yorkshire and the Humber last year, according to annual Visit England data, welcoming 291,410 visitors.

Grade II-listed Thwaite Watermill, positioned on an island between the River Aire and the Aire and Calder Navigation in Stourton, was built between 1823-25 but closed for commercial operations in 1976.

The site opened as a museum in 1990.

To see the surveys, visit https://surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/cs-lotherton or https://surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/cs-thwaite until midnight on Monday January 4.