MUSEUMS in the region are giving a cautious welcome to a cash windfall from the Government.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport yesterday announced it had allocated additional funding for the Renaissance in the Regions Programme.

The extra cash should protect funding for the North East Regional Museums Hub until 2008.

Although the extra cash has been well received, there are concerns that there will not be enough for all the country, and it is not known what effect this will have on the North-East.

Alec Coles, the director of Tyne and Wear Museum and lead partner in the North East Regional Museums Hub, said: "This funding should allow the Renaissance in the Regions programme to be rolled out to some of the other English regions, but there is not likely to be enough funding to cover the whole country."

Adrian Jenkins, director of the Bowes Museum, said that although the extra cash was a positive move, it was not as much as initially expected.

It was hoped the extra funding would be around £30m, but is actually about £15m.

The North-East hub is in the first phase, and Mr Jenkins said: "We're proceeding with cautious optimism. But nationally, in a sense the jam is being spread more thinly.

"As yet, we are not entirely sure what this means."

The hub comprises the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, Tyne and Wear Museums, Beamish, Hartlepool Museums and the North East Museums, Libraries and Archives Service.

Published: 15/12/2004