National Railway Museum to receive £15m in levelling up funding

The National Railway Museum in York has received a £15m levelling up package

The National Railway Museum in York has welcomed an "incredible" £15m funding boost announced in the Budget.

The levelling up cash was announced on Wednesday as part of the £100m set aside for "nationally significant culture projects".

The museum said the funding would "safeguard its plans for the future of its estate and collections care".

The latest funding followed an £18.6m package it received under the Cultural Investment Fund in 2019.

The museum plans to invest a total of £95m in capital projects to "extend and improve" the site.

It said the cash boost would allow its "transformative masterplan" to go ahead, including the redesign of several areas of the museum.

The National Railway Museum will use the funding to undergo a transformation

It would also go towards improvements at its sister site, Locomotion in Shildon, Co Durham, which was also part of the Science Museum Group.

Director Judith McNicol said: "This is incredible news for the National Railway Museum.

"This £15m package is a major milestone in our transformational journey to become the world's railway museum—globally relevant and open for all."

She added that the money would help attract more than 1.4 million visitors to the museum sites.

The Budget also included a permanent extension to tax relief for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries.

Sir Ian Blatchford, chief executive and director of the Science Museum Group, said the continuation of tax relief was "vital" and "hugely welcomed by all in the sector".