Plans to axe 50 jobs at Ironbridge museums trust

About 50 people could be made redundant from the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust (IGMT), the National Trust has said.

Consultation, under way with 188 potentially affected staff, will run until Sunday. Outcomes are expected in late January.

The National Trust will take over the running of the IGMT in March. IGMT has 10 museums and 35 listed buildings and scheduled monuments.

"As a conservation charity ourselves, and as with any transfer of this nature, we need to consider all costs including reviewing staff structures and streamlining processes," said Paul Forecast, National Trust's regional director in the Midlands and East of England.

"We will do this [while] supporting a visitor offer that will continue to appeal to loyal visitors and extend its reach to new audiences.

"A formal consultation has been launched with affected IGMT staff, and all IGMT staff and volunteers have been invited to provide feedback on the proposals."

Forecast added that the National Trust was working with IGMT to support those involved.

The IGMT's most popular sites include Blists Hill Victorian Town, the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, and the Old Furnace.

The role of the Ironbridge Gorge in the Industrial Revolution owes much to Abraham Darby I's transformation of iron production, as well as the "iron masters" who followed him, with some likening the area to the silicon valley of its day.

The innovations which were started there are widely recognised as being the catalyst for the building of the bridges, railways and machinery of the modern world.

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