Cannock Chase Council is seeking your views on proposed changes to some of our culture and heritage services as part of our ongoing efforts to manage financial pressures and safeguard essential services.

Why We’re Consulting
Like many councils across the country, we’re facing rising costs and growing demand for services. Despite years of careful financial management and savings, the Council is forecasting a budget shortfall of £1.3 million for 2025/26. To address this, we need to review our current services and make some difficult decisions.

The Council has worked with Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles (IHL) since 2012 to deliver these services.To help us understand the best way forward for the future we commissioned an independent review of leisure, heritage and culture services and surveyed the condition of the buildings managed by IHL.

Based on this work, the Council is proposing the closure of the Museum of Cannock Chase and the Prince of Wales Theatre by the end of April 2025 to ensure a sustainable future for other leisure and wellbeing services in the district.

Read a copy of the full Cabinet Report.

We understand these are significant proposals, and we’re committed to hearing your views. As part of this consultation, we’re also keen to explore ideas for an alternative approach to culture and heritage in Cannock Chase. You can access the survey below. 

Consultation Details
The consultation is open from 29 November 2024 to 2 January 2025. Your feedback will be considered before a final decision is made at the Council meeting on 12 February 2025.

Have Your Say: Share your thoughts through our online survey. 

Paper copies will be available from the Civic Centre, local libraries, leisure centres, Rugeley Community Centre, Pye Green Community Centre, the Musuem of Cannock Chase and the Prince of Wales Theatre. Print off a pdf copy of the surveys below.

• Culture and Heritage Survey
• Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form

It is important for us to understand who is responding to our surveys so that we can ensure we are reaching a balanced representative group of our residents. This information also helps us add to equality impact assessments for our services.

All data is anonymised and is not linked to any previous answers or surveys you may have provided. We would be grateful if you could take the time to answer the following questions. 

Drop In Sessions: If you need support completing the survey, please attend one of our drop-in sessions on:
Tuesday 3 Dec, 12noon - 2pm at Chase Leisure Centre
Friday 6 Dec, 2pm - 4pm at Cannock Library
Monday 9 Dec, 10am - 12noon at Hednesford Library
Wednesday 11 Dec, 11am - 1pm at the Museum of Cannock Chase 
Tuesday 17 Dec, 4.30pm - 6.30pm at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Thursday 19 Dec, 10am - 12noon at Rugeley Community Church

Download a copy of the Consultation Poster and Information Flyer if you would like to print our and share.