Horsforth and Aireborough residents are battling to save Horsforth Museum from financial turmoil.

Museum curator Ron Hartley is this week handing the council a petition signed by 1,000 people as financial problems loom for the popular attraction.

Horsforth Museum is fighting for survival after being hit by crippling rates since the start of the year. Government inspectors decided then that the museum should be classed as a business and would have to pay an annual £1,500 rate.

But Mr Hartley maintains the rate is too high and that the museum is a vital community resource, not a business.

He said: "I hope the petition will show the council that people do not want the museum to close or to lose the vital education work that is done here. I want the council to review the rates bill and put pressure on the Government for change.

"The bills jeopardise the future of the museum and mean that we have to keep tapping into our capital reserves."

Mr Hartley said that the museum saved an annual £750 surplus to help raise £10,000 for matched funding towards turning the derelict stables at the back of the building into an educational resource centre. The centre will cost £50,000, the majority of which may be funded by the National Lottery.

"But if the surplus is eaten away by having to pay these rates, we're never going to be able to find the £10,000 we need. There is no way we can plan for the future or any way we can expand," he added.

Mr Hartley said that the money could be raised by charging people to use the museum, which attracts 1,000 school pupils a year, but he said that the museum should remain free to everyone.

Donations from the three Horsforth councillors, Horsforth Town Council and the Leisure and Arts Group in Leeds mean the future of the museum is secure until the end of the year.

l The museum is on the verge of signing a 25-year lease with the council for its current building and the adjoining stables. Mr Hartley said it was the first step towards to building an educational centre.

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