Durham Light Infantry Museum: Calls for public inquiry into planned closure

The Durham Light Infantry Museum opened in 1968

Councillors are to vote on whether or not to delay plans to close a military museum after a campaign to save it.

Labour-run Durham County Council said Durham Light Infantry (DLI) museum would have to shut because it was too expensive to run.

Campaigners have challenged the closure and a Facebook group has more than 26,000 supporters.

Councillors will vote later on whether to launch a public consultation and delay the closure.

The council said a plan to relocate collections from the museum in Aykley Heads to a site in Spennymoor - around seven miles (11km) away - would save £221,000 a year.

Lib Dem councillor Mark Wilkes will put forward a motion to delay the move at a full council meeting later.

He said: "I have found the council decision to close the museum without any consultation with the public to be one of the most heartless and unacceptable decisions the Labour-run council has ever made.

"Many families of DLI veterans have had this decision dumped on them with out any say, despite having the ashes of loved ones spread around the memorial at the museum.

"Residents across the county have had no say at all in this decision either."

Durham County Council said the museum cost £397,000 to maintain last year, which equated to £10 per visitor. The average cost to the council for its other four museums was £1.60.

The authority said it had already been forced to shave £150m from its budget and faced further cuts of £100m over the next few years.

DLI Museum opened in 1968 and has exhibits such as uniforms and firearms dating from 1758 to 2011.