Natural History Museum’s plan to split collection criticised

The Natural History Museum's plans to relocate millions of specimens, including mammals, corals and worms, from London to Reading have been criticised by experts.

In a letter to The Times, seven former researchers at the museum and 23 international experts argued that the move would be detrimental and lead to a loss of expertise.

“While most biological research can be pursued on any university campus,” they wrote, “only natural history museums with their collections and experts located in intact and cohesive institutions can lead in this arena.”

The museum announced last year that it would move 28m of its 80m objects to a new facility at Thames Valley Science Park, on land owned by the University of Reading, constituting the most significant move of its collections since the 1880s.

The museum says the move will offer more space for the collection to grow and better opportunities for analysing and digitising specimens. In their letter, critics of the plan questioned why a London-based university could not be found to house the specimens.

Fred Naggs, a former staff member, said: “My take is they considered the collections and the scientists to be occupying prime real estate and that they could simply be moved out of London."

A museum spokeswoman said: “We’re moving some of the collection to Reading to make it easier for us to take care of it, digitise it and share its data with scientists all over the world who are finding solutions to problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and food security.

“We came to this decision by listening carefully to our colleagues and the wider scientific community. As a leading scientific research centre, we think it’s important to unlock and share the value of all natural history collections.”