Tate members will meet in February to debate whether to wind up the existing members' charity and merge with the Tate Gallery - a move branded "undemocratic and unethical" in a letter to The Times yesterday.

An extraordinary general meeting of Tate Members will be held on 26 February to discuss a resolution "That the council members of the charity are authorised to transfer by way of a charitable application the agreed assets, liabilities and undertaking of the charity to The board of trustees of the Tate Gallery".

Voting on the resolution opened on 15 January and is open to all members. Under the proposed merger, the Tate Members council will be "re-established" by the Tate's board of trustees as a members' council within the Tate's existing non-executive structure, alongside Tate Britain, Liverpool and St Ives. 

In a letter published in The Times yesterday, artist and lecturer Michael Paraskos criticised the proposed merger as “deeply troubling” and said it was “undemocratic and unethical” as the members would lose their ability to influence gallery decisions.

“At present, the £10m annual income raised by Tate Members is the only independent leverage on this behemoth of a gallery,” he wrote. “As the proposals stand, this sum will be lost into the general budget of the Tate, along with reserves of almost £5m. To disband Tate Members after 60 years is undemocratic and unethical.”

The Tate itself is an exempt charity which had an annual income of £221m in the last financial year. The Tate Members is an independent registered charity, which had an annual income in the last financial year of £10.7m according to the charity register.

Response from the Tate and Tate Members

A spokesman from the Tate said that “by merging the two charities Tate will be able to work in a more flexible and responsive way,” and that “this will integrate the Members more closely to the gallery.”

In a statement Tate said: "The aims of Tate Members is to support the fulfilment of the charitable objects of Tate. By merging the two charities Tate will be able to carry out its work in a more flexible and responsive way. This will integrate the Members more closely to the gallery and ensure the views of Members are better represented. Tate Members will enjoy the same benefits as before and the changes would not affect the membership experience in any way."

A letter from Jon Snow, chair of Tate Members, appeared in today's Times saying that the proposed merger will give members more influence.

He said: "The proposal has been agreed by the members council and would enable members to be more closely integrated in the decision-making process at Tate, giving them more influence, not less, as they would be represented on the councils of each of Tate’s four galleries and would, for the first time, have representation on the Tate board."

He added that all members have been contacted and the charity has "received a small number of requests for clarification of the proposal’s detail but have no sense that members as a whole are 'angered'."