A CAMPAIGN to save a threatened conservation centre in Winchester is attracting national support.
A petition on the Prime Minister's website against the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre has garnered 2,171 names.
The petition was sparked by a Daily Echo's exclusive story last month, since followed up by national newspapers, that Southampton University plans to close the centre in 2009.
The university says the centre, which has around 15 staff and 60 postgraduate students, costs too much money to run.
Campaigners are furious because much of the cost of setting up the TCC in 1998 was paid by charitable trusts.
They say the university lured the then financially sound centre from Hampton Court Palace in London. If the centre is now losing money, that is a result of poor management since its transfer to Winchester.
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Jerry Podany, of the Getty Museum in California, wrote to the university vice-chancellor Bill Wakeham, saying the closure is "widely perceived as no less than a betrayal of trust".
"We see the university's decision as damaging to the world's textile heritage, the international conservation community, and most sadly a poor repayment for the loyalty, high standards and dedication of its highly motivated staff," he wrote. The university has denied it has acted in bad faith and says a significant cash injection would save the centre.
On Monday the Daily Echo reported that £5m would be needed to give the TCC a long-term future.
The TCC is the world leader in conserving old fabrics. Projects have included restoring Henry VIII's football boots, the hood of the John "Elephant Man" Merrick and a battle flag of an 18th century warship. A university spokesman said: "We have done all that we can to support the centre, however we have concluded that we can longer justify the cross-subsidy from other areas of academic endeavour. We do not consider that there has been any breach of trust."
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