RUSHING the management of the Royal Pavilion into a trust could be a huge mistakeas a as the recent patient transport debacle, unions have warned.

GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said many unanswered questions remain over the transfer of the Royal Pavilion and Museums in Brighton to an interim board in three months’ time.

Mr Turner warned removing council control could mean job cuts, ticket price increases and pay hikes for senior staff are much easier to force through.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Warren Morgan said the move would ensure the Pavilion would be preserved for generations to come as councillors voted on Thursday night to take the historic sites outside of direct council control.

The move has been backed by other political groups. Conservative councillor Andrew Wealls said he was supportive of the plan while Green convenor Phelim MacCafferty sought assurances preventing a “flogging off of the family silver” which had occurred elsewhere in the country.

A new arts and culture trust, scheduled to begin in 2018, will have a 25-year funding agreement reviewed every five years and a 25-year lease on buildings.

The council believes that the trust will be able to respond more quickly to market trends and the move will assist with fundraising, longer-term financial planning and greater freedom to find new income streams. The plans have been progressing for more than three years but have been modified following legal advice, leaving the council unable to meet its initial deadline to hand over to the trust by April.

The move to a trust is also designed to increase investment in maintenance although the council will retain responsibility for maintenance budgets.

The council currently spends around £600,000 a year but a recent building survey indicated up to £1 million a year was needed.

A three-year savings plan for up to £400,000 would be delayed by five years as the trust is given time to bed in and develop relationships.

Setting up the trust will cost £250,000 and it will run a deficit for the first two years before running a surplus of £350,000 by its fifth year.

Council officers say modelling has shown the trust will cost £505,000 less over its first five years than any alternative arrangement.

Detailed financial modelling has also explored the impact of greater maintenance costs, changes to admissions and fundraising income and changes to “assumptions around staff turnover and staff costs”.

The trust’s board will have up to 12 members but only three elected councillors – a condition of establishing the trust means the council cannot have a controlling majority.

The 150 Pavilion and Museums staff will be transferred over to the trust under existing terms and conditions and the new trust will be asked to commit to “ethical business practices”.

Mr Turner said moves to museum trusts around the country were followed by job losses.

He said: “The council is just getting rid of its responsibility and washing its hands of the staff. The council can easily say its not us cutting the jobs, it’s that nasty trust.

“When the Dome trust was formed, one of the first things they did was reduce terms and conditions for staff and that was in the good times. If there were job cuts, frontline security staff would go and the Pavilion has already had things gone missing even before that happens. It’s a false economy. We don’t know what happens if this trust goes to the wall. We are seeking answers to these questions.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “We want to ensure that we manage the change for our staff well and we will consult fully with staff and unions up to and throughout the transfer process.

“Staff working for the Royal Pavilion and Museums service will transfer to the new trust once it is established under their existing terms and conditions of employment, the transfer will not take place until April 2018.

“It is still early days, and this week’s decision means we can now move forward with more detailed preparations and planning for the transfer to a trust, before a report is brought back to the Policy, Resources and Growth committee next year.

“The new charitable trust, once established, will need to commit to ethical business practices and good employment practice for its existing and future workforce.

“Members of the board will not be paid salaries.

“The council will maintain the current level of support to the new trust for the first three years of business to allow it time to fully develop its business model.” and new sources of income.”