A £4 million plan to save a museum collection has been backed by councillors in North Herts.

More than one million objects are held by North Herts Museum Service, with some deemed to be internationally significant and most kept in storage at a site on Burymead Road in Hitchin.

But Cllr Daniel Allen, leader of North Herts Council, told a cabinet meeting yesterday (Tuesday, 19 November) that the current site is "failing".

He said: "If you've been to the building, you will have seen there is simply no room left and that the outhouses are now similarly being filled.

"The building at Burymead was a stopgap, intended to last a few years. That was thirty years ago, and it has aged.

"In recent storms, our officers were there in buildings with wellies, buckets and dehumidifiers.

"The building was never fitted out to provide the day-to-day continuous needs for what we have.

"What was a sensible decision for five years was not a sensible decision for thirty years."

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Robert Orchard, culture and facilities service manager at the council, said "the current situation is less than ideal" and suggested the current set-up may be contributing to a "gradual degradation" of artefacts. He added that the council had "mitigated any urgent issues".

Maintaining the Burymead site for a further ten years would cost the council around £175,000, and it has previously allocated £4 million towards a long-term solution.

Eight options for that solution were considered by its cabinet following a lengthy discussion at its overview and scrutiny committee last week.

Rejected options included doing nothing or continuing to use the existing facilities for a further five to ten years. Using another building owned by the council was also rejected because, officers said, there is nothing suitable among its holdings.

Cllr Matt Barnes, chair of the overview and scrutiny committee, said the "most popular" option is to explore a "partnership solution" with other museums in the district.

According to a report presented to councillors, Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation has proposed "a particular site in Letchworth" that could be used but "discussions are in their infancy".

Cllr Barnes said: "There was some concern about the higher costs associated with it, but the committee was very attracted by the economies of scale it potentially offers and the potential cost-sharing and outreach benefit". It was the only option to receive unanimous support from his committee.

Cabinet also agreed to spend £50,000 investigating two further options – redeveloping the Burymead site and buying a freehold or long leasehold building, such as a warehouse.

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Several councillors said it was important that the council continues to look after the museum collection.

Cllr Daniel Allen said: "North Herts Museum Service provides a continual historical record of our district, a constant golden thread that dates back hundreds of years.

"I am so excited that we are reaching a point that something is finally going to happen.

"We're now working in months to start getting this through."

Doing nothing would be an "act of vandalism", according to Cllr Mick Debenham, while deputy council leader Cllr Val Bryant said: "It's important we recognise that we are custodians of the past for North Herts.

"Our artefacts are all about North Herts' past.

"To give you an example, we are contributing to scientific knowledge at the moment, where AI is being used to identify diseases in the past using [items] from the Bronze Age and Iron Age from Baldock.

"It is that important.

"It's not Sutton Hoo, but [our objects] are very important and need to be looked after for the future."

Council officers stressed the importance of finding a solution for maintaining the museum's Arts Council accreditation, helping it host special exhibitions – "the main driver of our footfall" – and retaining staff.

Cllr Amy Allen raised concerns about the impact of the current situation on those working at Burymead.

She said: "Having visited it twice now and experiencing it in both the cold and the summer, it is quite clear it is not a suitable working space – as well as it not being suitable for the artefacts.

"There is no disability access for a start, which I think is a really big problem.

"Everyone who is working there is very passionate about what they do is incredibly knowledgeable about what they do, they're really inspiring – everyone is doing their absolute best with what they've got.

"And I just think about how much more could be accomplllished, how much more could they do if they had a better working environment and it was a suitable environment for the items there?"

Meanwhile, Cllr Ian Albert said it was "absolutely critical" to continue searching for a solution but added: "I hope we can do something quite brave and innovative, but we will need to make that careful judgement when we look at our overall finances."

Philip Doggett, the council's principal estates surveyor, said: "Within six months, we should be able to come back with some more detailed costing and planning the direction of travel."