ANGER is growing over plans which could see the closure of Horsforth Museum.

The museum, which has served the town for three decades, could be threatened by council plans to expand community hubs across the city as part of its fight against poverty and deprivation.

The council is aiming to bring all existing community based one-stop centres, libraries and housing management offices together under one roof. Horsforth Museum has shared a building with the local housing management office but, with the removal of that service to the hub, the building is now in danger of being sold

A report to Leeds City Council's Executive Board last week said 'a future solution for the tenant (will) be discussed further, but in principle the assumption is made that the tenant will come out of the building to enable its disposal.'

During the meeting it was stressed consultations would continue and the proposals would remain 'in principle' while this took place, but Horsforth councillor Dawn Collins said she was concerned and angry that the building could be lost to the community.

She said: "I am furious about the potential loss of Horsforth Museum. Making progress with the community hubs must never be at the expense of one of our few remaining local community spaces.

"If the volunteers who run Horsforth Museum wish to stay where they are, they should not be forced to move by the Council. Horsforth Museum is a fantastic city asset that should be invested in, not side-lined so their building can be put on the open market.

"In Horsforth we have no town hall, leisure centre, arts centre or other large community hall. The village hall that we had, Horsforth Police Station and Horsforth Recycling Centre have all recently been closed and sold off. The Horsforth Clinic and our residential nursing home are next on the list for closing and going to the highest bidder. Parks and Countryside have also taken away one of our playgrounds rather than bring it up to standard.

"It’s time for the council and other public bodies to stop asset stripping our community."

Councillor Andrew Carter, Leader of the Conservative Group, added: "Horsforth Museum is a much valued community asset and I can well understand why local people are so concerned it might be lost.

"The community hubs are supposed to be about creating accessible public spaces that will serve local people well, but if that means losing existing valued assets like Horsforth Museum, something is clearly going wrong."