THE National Media Museum has secured a £1million cash injection from Bradford Council to help secure its future.

Welcoming the news today, museum director Jo Quinton-Tulloch said: "It's a great day for the National Media Museum."

But council bosses have now issued a public challenge to Culture Minister Ed Vaizey to put his money where his mouth is and provide some funding for the stalwart city-centre attraction too.

The Media Museum fought off a closure threat last year thanks to a major public campaign, but bosses accepted that it had to change to remain viable.

Bradford Council's Executive yesterday agreed to give the museum £1million over three years to help fund a major new interactive exhibition focusing on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills.

And the Science Museum Group, which runs the museum, is matching it with £1million of its own cash.

But the meeting heard that last year, Mr Vaizey had also given a verbal commitment to providing extra funding and the Council was now keen to make sure this happened.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, executive member for culture, said the authority would be contacting the Conservative minister to "make sure he keeps to his commitment as we did to ours".

And Council leader Councillor David Green said the Government had a duty to "back up some of the warm words that we heard last year with some real support".

He said: "We will be seeking to ensure that commitment given verbally is turned into something real in the months to come."

Miss Quinton-Tulloch welcomed the council's investment, saying: "The museum has been through some very challenging times over the last 12 months so this is a real milestone for us."

She said getting young people engaged in STEM subjects was a key priority for the Government and other agencies, so they believed that concentrating more on this area could generate more funding in the future.

She said: "We believe we will be putting ourselves in a very strong position over the next three years to encourage more funding to come into the museum."

A spokesman for the Government's Department for Culture, Media & Sport said: “Today’s announcement is great news for the National Media Museum and a fantastic example of the types of commercial and local partnerships that can help all museums continue to thrive.

"This sits alongside the financial flexibilities introduced by government to help museums operate more efficiently, as well as government protection for funding for museums in the last two Spending Rounds.

"Bradford Council’s investment will continue the ongoing efforts by the Science Museum Group to set out a long-term, strategic and sustainable future for the NMM.”