PETERSFIELD Museum opens for the summer later this month on the back of news that plans to expand, renovate and modernise it have been approved, and a £1.3m lottery bid for the works has been submitted.
South Downs National Park planning committee approved the designs for the former police station and court house behind it on Thursday, March 8.
The estimated cost of the works to the two buildings in St Peter’s Road is about £2.8m, and this week the museum trustees submitted an application for a £1.3m Heritage Lottery grant.
Museum financial trustee Jeremy Mitchell said: “We planned to submit the lottery bid this week, and by coincidence the planning application was approved few days before, so it’s been quite an eventful time.”
The museum re-opens for the summer on Tuesday, March 20; the result of the lottery bid should be known before it closes again in the autumn.
To gain the lottery funding, trustees and museum supporters have had to raise £1.25m in match funding, including a £150,000 pledge from Petersfield Town Council.
If it is approved, the work on the two buildings and the courtyard separating them is set to begin in 2019; a provisional opening date of March 2021 has been announced.
Included in the works is converting the existing museum in the Victorian magistrates court house into a lecture theatre, and education space.
The former police station stables are to be converted into the Edward Thomas Centre, housing the Tim Wilton-Steer collection of books and papers relating to the poet from Steep.
A modern link building and exhibition space will join the two Victorian buildings, and a large mosaic will be set in the courtyard, which will be renovated so it can be used for the-atrical productions and concerts, and may house large sculptures.
Three cells in the former police station and the prisoners exercise yard will have a Victo-rian law and order theme, and the former judges robing room in the court house will display artifacts from the Hampshire Constabulary Historical Society.
The museum is also hosting an open to all free conference in Petersfield Festival Hall on the results of the People of The Heath project on Saturday, March 24.
During the four-year project, burial barrows on Petersfield Heath were excavated, and the conference with guest speakers will discuss the conclusions and findings of the digs.
For details about the conference, the museum conversion project, summer opening hours, and events, exhibitions and displays, contact the museum on 01730 262601, or visit the website www.petersfieldmuseum.co.uk