We are delighted to announce that Big Heritage officially took over custodianship of Wirral Transport Museum on 17th November and we are now able to share more information about our plans in the short and long term.

Whilst we are still at the early planning stages, we felt it was important to provide some information at this early stage to reassure all stakeholders on the museum’s future.

1. Why has the Museum been closed for so long?

The museum and Tramway was closed on 20th April by Wirral Council after an inspection by the Office of Road and Rail found “significant contraventions of health and safety law” both in the building and in the procedures of how the museum and tramline operated.

Since this closure, museum volunteers and Big Heritage staff have been unable to access the site until these issues were addressed and procedures put in place to monitor and record a range of Health & Safety and Control of Hazardous Substances risks.

It has been almost 7 months since the closure and we have every sympathy with volunteers and visitors who have been frustrated at this situation, but we can attest that Wirral Council took the results of the inspection very seriously and have spent considerable time and resources to address the issues raised as quickly as possible. 

The closure was obviously an inconvenience for all, but no inconvenience supersedes public safety and the risk to life of visitors and volunteers. 

2. What are your plans for the museum?

We are currently seeking to raise £5-6m to completely transform the museum alongside our already under-way project to build a new International Battle of the Atlantic Centre at Woodside and restore and re-open the iconic Shore Road Pumping Station. 

We have appointed architects to explore options to double the size of the museum by extending onto the yard area of the site and join this new structure to the existing building.

The overarching aim of the redevelopment is to create a new transport museum that not only displays locally relevant vehicles, but also collects and shares hundreds of stories of the journeys local people took and the influence these trips had on their lives. From John and Paul interviewing George on top of a bus, to the thousands of workers from Cammell Laird who would take a daily tram to the shipyard. We believe that “the journey is sometimes more exciting than the destination” and want to use these journeys alongside the vehicles to share a social history of the working class people in Merseyside.

3. What are the plans for the tram collection?

Birkenhead was a world pioneer town in tramways and tram building and we are committed to ensuring this story remains central to the new museum narrative. We have already agreed terms with Wirral Council and National Museums Liverpool to retain and display the four trams they collectively own, and hope to confirm a similar loan agreement with Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society to continue to house their heritage trams both for display and to continue running on the tracks to Woodside.

As almost 80% of the museum’s current floor space is dominated by vehicle storage and only 20%  of the museum is accessible to visitors, we need to find more visitor space and have therefore asked MTPS to re-home one single tram that was built and operated in Lisbon and has no local significance or connection. Beamish Museum have agreed to become the new custodians of this tram. It is a beautiful tram, and it was not an easy decision to make but it does not fit within the new museum narrative. 

To put the issue of space in context, Beamish currently operates nine heritage trams across their 350 acre site, which is 1.5 times bigger than Birkenhead Park. Wirral Transport Museum has 11 trams stored in one single shed and running across a tiny 1.2km of track.

The rest of the MTPS tram collection holds regional significance and we would be pleased and honoured to offer them all a home indefinitely.

As the former workshop on-site needs considerable upgrades to comply with regulations, and with plans to soon construct a bigger museum, we have also asked MTPS to complete the ongoing restoration work of two Isle of Man trams at another site to ensure they can continue this work without further disruption as our plans progress.

These trams are now in Hooton Park in Eastham and upon their completion, we will be delighted to welcome them back to Birkenhead should MTPS wish.

4. What does the future hold for Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society volunteers in the museum ?

MTPS have been restoring trams for over 60 years and are recognised as one of the UK’s most respected tram restoration societies. 

Big Heritage have acknowledged from the outset that MTPS have been pivotal in keeping the museum open since their charity took over its management in 2014.  Their collective knowledge and experience is irreplaceable. Indeed, it will be lost if it is not passed onto future generations within the next 5-10 years.

It is without question that we will welcome back the volunteers who have kept the museum alive since 2014. However, it cannot be a case of carrying on ‘as normal’ as liability for accidents to volunteers, staff and members of the public now lie with Big Heritage. We have to welcome volunteers back to a safe and structured working environment and new procedures will be in place for volunteers old and new to follow.

Approximately 90% of current volunteers are men aged 60-85, so it is a priority for us to support this core group, but also encourage a new generation of younger local volunteers from a wider demographic to absorb and learn from the knowledge of current volunteers to secure this for future generations.

With support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have appointed an experienced Volunteer Co-Ordinator who is tasked with creating a new formal volunteer programme that will support and empower current volunteers, whilst widening access and participation to new volunteers from a broader demographic in the Birkenhead area. 

As we will significantly increase the amount of children and vulnerable adults who visit the museum, we will require all volunteers to undertake a disclosure and barring service check and to sign up to a new volunteer code of conduct.

We will also require volunteer tram and bus drivers to have an annual eye test and general health check to continue offering rides to members of the public. These tests are standard across the heritage transport industry and will be paid for by Big Heritage.

The safety of visitors, staff and volunteers is paramount, and we think volunteers and visitors alike would agree that they are reasonable and proportionate changes.

5. What are your plans for the bus collection?

The special history of the Birkenhead trams have meant that the bus collection in the museum has been somewhat overshadowed in the museum, only available for the public to ride on special events and shows.

We believe the bus collection has the potential to have a much greater role in the museum going forward. As they aren’t limited to tracks, heritage buses can become an exciting attraction in their own right, whilst also moving visitors to other Wirral attractions that don’t have the same public transport benefits of Woodside.

We are working with transport consultants to explore a heritage bus network that would operate at peak tourist times to  transport visitors from Woodside to other Wirral destinations such as Birkenhead Priory and Park, Port Sunlight, New Brighton and many more. We will need to balance this service with a responsibility to protect the historic vehicles, but the potential is considerable. We would also seek to use these buses to offer free transport to Wirral schools wishing to make school visits. Currently the cost of transport is the biggest factor in schools no longer offering school trips to pupils.

6. What will happen to the rest of the exhibits in the museum?

The vast majority of exhibits are owned by Wirral Museum Service and we have signed a loan agreement to continue displaying these items in future displays. The ownership will remain with Wirral Museum Service.

There are a small number of items in the museum which are owned by third parties who have over the years loaned these objects for display or storage. Wirral Museum Service have spent some months contacting owners to either donate or collect these items as we have a policy of only loaning objects from other museums unless they are of significant historical relevance. 

No museum objects have been disposed of.

What is the future of the model railway?

The model railway was donated to the museum 20 years ago and depicts Mostyn railway in North Wales. During inspection, it was highlighted as a serious fire risk by Merseyside Fire and Rescue and was in a poor state of repair. We have therefore removed the railway from its current location.

As we do not have space to display trains in the building, we aim to tell the important story of the railways in Merseyside with a brand new model track both in Wirral Transport Museum and nearby Shore Road Pumping station in partnership with Mersey Rail. We are now in talks with one of the biggest model rail companies in the world to create an incredible new rail layout that will rival any other display in the country when complete.

We will also provide a new home for the incredible scale model of Woodside that was previously on display in Wiral Town Hall.

7. Wirral Council have declared a climate crisis. How will you respond to this?

A museum full of combustion engines does not at first glance seem to be the best way of addressing a Climate Crisis. 

However, we are fortunate that the museum roof is large and perfectly orientated to take advantage of solar power. We are working with energy consultants to explore this. 

As the heritage trams generally only need power in one direction (with gravity powering the other direction) we are confident that we can use solar power to charge all of the tram’s existing batteries and cover the power demands of a new museum. Our aim is to make Birkenhead the first tram-line in the world to be completely solar powered. Another ‘first’ for trams – albeit on a small scale.

8. How will your plans benefit Birkenhead?

The impact of a thriving transport museum will be felt around the entire borough when combined with the package of heritage projects that are currently in development in Birkenhead by Big Heritage and other partners.

 The new museum will create 10 new full-time heritage jobs in an industry that’s seen considerable decline in other areas across the UK. We will create an annual heritage transport apprenticeship scheme open to young Wirral students, and we have already adopted a policy of using local companies and contractors for all of our redevelopment work across all of our sites where possible.

Aongside this, the uplift in tourists will put more bums on seats in local restaurants and pubs, more cash in the taxi metres, more spend in local shops and an all-round increase in visitor ‘dwell-time’ in Wirral; regarded as a significant bench-mark in the tourist industry.

A revitalised Transport Museum, a new International Battle of the Atlantic Centre, a re-opened Shore Road Pumping Station and regular public tours of nearby Egerton Bridge will give Birkenhead a transport and maritime themed heritage destination to rival anywhere in the UK.

9. What are your plans to work with local community groups?

We have already working in partnership with The Hive Youth Club, which despite being a short walk from the museum have never had any opportunity to engage with the museum. We have provided the Hive with £10,000 of funding to allow them to fund activities and programmes for their young members to help us develop new plans and enjoy some new activities related to transport and heritage. 

At the other end of age spectrum, we are in discussion with Age UK Wirral to create a free activity programme that will use the vintage buses and museum collections to support their dementia programme in a similar way to National Museum Liverpool’s incredible House of Memories programme.

We are creating a programme to encourage and support both children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder to play a key role in helping us design a new museum that meets their needs as visitors, but also as future volunteers. There is a widely recognised link between people with ASD and interest in transport. Our new museum will be designed in collaboration with people with ASD to create an inclusive experience for neurodiverse visitors to enjoy.

We are working with local organisation Rek41 to offer opportunities to adults overcoming addictions and mental health issues and we will be continuing our partnership with veteran’s charity Launchpad to support local veterans to make a successful transition from military to civilian life.

10. When will the museum reopen?

We expect to be able to make an announcement on timescales in early January once we have confirmation of funding for our ambitious plans.

However, we are confident that we can start running bus and tram services whilst the redevelopment takes place, and hope to have some sort of service in operation in 2024.