Museum chiefs and schools were celebrating today as Bradford Council received a £200,000 award from a new Government funding pot.

The cash from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's new culture line project will be used to set up a pioneering website for the district's museums.

It will open up photographs of collections and information at the touch of a button for thousands of pupils and students who are doing research and projects.

Bradford Council's director of art, heritage and culture Jane Glaister said it would allow them to show treasures which had to be kept in storerooms because there was not enough space to display them.

She said Bradford was one of the first authorities to receive an award from the culture line scheme and would lead the country with its project called artefacts.com.

Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "It will mean a lot for children but we are also all conscious of the need to promote Bradford's image. It's a first for Bradford again."

A spokesman for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London also said today it was very keen to set up a partnership with Bradford which would include bringing its own exhibitions into the district.

The Council's Museums Service is in talks with the V&A about joint purchases and exchanging collections for exhibitions.

Lottery bids are also being made for multi-million pound redevelopments of all the museums and a new one may be opened in the city centre.

The Council's regeneration and culture scrutiny committee will consider an action plan for the museums service tomorrow following a highly critical report from the authority's best value review team.

The report shows years of under-funding had left buildings which were poorly maintained and display structures which were "traditional, tired and static." The committee will be asked to approve a 26-point action plan including more staff, extra funding and bids for lottery awards towards major redevelopments.