Historic Manx buildings must pay their own way, former heritage boss says

Edmund Southworth was director of Manx National Heritage for more than a decade

Sustainable uses must be found for historic buildings taken into public ownership in future, a former director of Manx National Heritage has said.

Edmund Southworth retired in July after more than a decade in the role.

He said the biggest shift over that period had been the "change of expectations".

While people now wanted more digital access to heritage there was still a need for physical sites "to be looked after", he said.

Although the organisation receives an annual government grant, it is run at arm's length and relies heavily on self-generated income and charitable funds.

'Significant subsidy'

Citing the old police station in Castletown as an example, Mr Southworth said a planned long-term commercial lease for the site would give it a "sustainable use" in future.

MNH took ownership of the building in 2018 following public outcry over government plans to sell it on the open market.

Mr Southworth said: "The days of MNH turning every historic building on the island into a paying visitor attraction...disappeared 10 years ago when the finances proved unsustainable."

The desire for more digital access to the island's heritage coupled with the pressures of maintaining historic sites would also sometimes lead to "a mismatch of expectation", he said.

"Those aspects are sometimes in tension with each other because it requires a significant amount of investment," he added.

A strategy of diversification, including renting out properties as holiday accommodation and a focus on retail outlets at heritage sites, had helped to ease the financial burden pre-pandemic, Mr Southworth said.

However, the island had a "disproportionate amount of heritage to try and look after" with a small catchment area compared to the UK, which meant it was "always going to require a significant level of subsidy", he added.