A BUDGET decision by Gloucestershire County Council to withdraw grants for curatorial advice to two Forest museums may bar them from seeking charity funds including lottery aid.
Requests from the Dean Heritage Museum and the Dean Forest Railway Museum Trust to take over funding are being tabled at the Forest of Dean District Council planning and leisure services committee meeting this week.
The meeting, which was to have taken place last Thursday but was postponed because of the fuel crisis, will hear that curatorial advice is vital for the museums to be placed on a national register.
Without registration museums are denied access to many charitable funds, including the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Before the current financial year the county gave grants to provide part-time consultants to carry out the work in museums which did not have their own qualified curators.
In the case of the Railway Museum, the request is for an annually renewable grant of £500. The museum is a charitable trust running independently of the railway.
The request from the Dean Heritage Museum is for £1,000 for the current year and it is understood that the museum's director will be able to undertake the role in future years. The Dean Heritage Museum Trust currently receives an annual grant of £30,280 from the district council.
Both requests are supported by the South West Museums Council.
In a report to be considered by the meeting director of planning and leisure Jim Stewart states: "There is no budgetary provision available from these requests and should members wish to support them, the money will need to be found either from savings, which would be difficult at the current time, or by a request to policy and resources committee for a supplementary estimate."