Sir,

The Shire Hall was renovated with Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) after energetic support from community groups and organisations and Monmouth Town Council helped substantially with the required matchfunding.

The HLF application included a Learning Room giving schools and visitors study space, as an addition to the Nelson Museum.

The Shire Hall renovation work, costing over £4 million, did not include the correct environment or storage for museum artefacts, or the required security for the valuable Nelson Collection.

The building built as a court house can be securely closed overnight, but the rambling interior is a nightmare to control when the building is open to the public.

This problem is of no concern at the present time, because there is nothing of value in the building. In the Shire Hall the Henry Room is the most elegant function room in the town, and in the HLF application the Community Room was likened to Monmouth's Village Hall – both rooms will be ruined if floors are inserted to make higher levels to house the museum.

Monmouthshire County Council officers should produce a sustainable feasibility study, instead of rashly emptying the Market Hall building to sell as retail units.

The museum could stay, extended into an exhibition space on the ground floor, in the area previously used for the Tourist Information Centre with good north westerly light.

Entry to museums in Wales must be free, but an entrance fee can be charged for exhibitions. With two staircases to the top floor, one could have a stair lift allowing offices to be let above the exhibition rooms.

E Dean

(Monmouth)