The way Cogges Farm Museum in Witney has been left to rot is nothing short of a scandal.

Just when it looked like it was turning a corner — with 30 per cent more visitors through the gates this year — Oxfordshire County Council is embarking on cuts.

Some staff have been issued with redundancy notices and the 2009 season will finish on August 31 — two months earlier than this year.

On top of that, some of the animals children come to see will no longer be there. And all this has been decided before County Hall holds a crunch meeting to determine which of three bids could take the museum forward.

We are well aware the council was shelling out £250,000 a year to meet the museum's heavy losses, but one has to question the management in allowing things to get to that stage in the first place.