PLANS to save thousands of pieces of the region's industrial heritage are to move a step closer.

Beamish Museum, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, has submitted planning applications for an extension to its regional resource centre.

Bosses at the museum learned in July that its partnership bid with Tyne and Wear Museums for a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £2.1m had been provisionally approved.

The planning applications, to Derwentside District Council and Chester-le-Street District Council, are the next stage before the bid can win final approval.

John Gall, head of development at Beamish, said: "This should ensure that more of the region's treasures are stored for the future."

The building will provide a permanent home for thousands of items from the Beamish Museum and Tyne and Wear Museums collections that are at risk from the elements.

The centre will support other regional museums by providing storage for their collections.

A new room will give schools and other groups access to the collections.

Mr Gall said: "This is long-term planning for both our organisations.

"It is not part of the museum's tourism business and will make an enormous difference in 50 years time, rather than five years from now."

He said it was about preserving the past for the majority of people, not only the upper classes.

He said: "These items are not worth millions of pounds, but they are to do with the history of the ordinary people -wor folk, if you like.

"The gentry's history has been looked after well enough elsewhere."

The project, which will cost about £2.6m, also includes converting part of a tram shed into a workshop and a stores building.

A decision from the HLF on the bid is due in March or April.

Published: 20/01/2004