A dispute over treasured collections has seen the doors of Marlborough Museum double-locked in a "ridiculous impasse".
The Marlborough District Council has locked the main doors but is holding onto the keys despite handing management of the museum back to the Marlborough Historical Society.
The society in turn has wrapped a padlock around the handles of the main door to stop council staff getting back in.
The society is concerned the council wants to go in and take items it believes the council has no right to take.
“Some items are uncertain and we want to jointly assess all of the items before they are taken away,” society president Paul Davidson said.
However, the council said it had been asked by private collectors, who had donated items to the museum, to go in and get them.
The dispute was around items donated after 2016, when the Marlborough Heritage Trust took over from the society as guardians of the region’s historical assets.
The trust was formed because the society was struggling to manage its assets, which included the Marlborough Museum, the Beaverton buildings at Brayshaw Park and Blenheim's Cob Cottage.
Representatives from heritage organisations, the community, iwi and council were to be included on the trust. The council often failed to fill its positions on the trust.
However, the trust also struggled to manage the assets and kept asking the council for more money.
In 2021, the council carried out a review of the trust, which recommended the trust be wound up and the council take over management of the museum.
The council took over the museum on July 1, 2023, but the museum didn’t open under council management until December 19.
The council said it was modernising systems to “align with best museum practice”, doing an inventory of artefacts and working on a volunteer roster.
The society wasn’t happy with the delay and asked the council for a “reset” - to essentially give the museum back to the society - in the long-term plan.
The council agreed and gave the society a $40,000 operating grant.
The society had hoped to open the museum on July 10, but on Wednesday had to go and change signs at the museum to say it was “temporarily closed”.
Davidson called it a “ridiculous impasse”.
He said the society was communicating with the council through its solicitor.
“They have vacated our building and refused to return us the keys and it's almost a stand-off and we're very unhappy with that and that's the bottom line.”
Nicola Neilson, council’s arts, culture and heritage project lead, confirmed the council still had the keys.
“But we can’t remove items at this point as a padlock has been placed around the museum door handles by the MHS trustees,” Neilson said
The council was still the “guardian” of some material from the Renwick Museum and some private collections, Neilson said. Those private collectors had asked for their items to be removed, she said.
The council also wanted to pick up IT equipment, cleaning equipment and some personal items, she said.
“The MHS has been provided with a full list of the items council wishes to retrieve.”
Neilson said the council needed this so they could hand the management of the building back to the society, and negotiations were continuing.
“Council has put forward a proposal to resolve the situation and is awaiting a response from the MHS.”
The museum has a permanent Wairau Bar exhibition, wine exhibition and a “Victorian rooms” showcase. It is also home to the Marlborough Express archives.
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