NEW plans to build a heritage museum for north Durham have been outlined.

Derwentside District Council officers have drawn up a rough report outlining the possibility of a museum and now plan an extensive feasibility study into the idea, in partnership with the Derwentdale History Society.

Two well-known buildings, one in Stanley the other in the Consett area, are being looked at with a view to house the museum but have not yet been named.

Chairman of the history society, Tommy Moore, stressed that it was too early to estimate how much it would cost to construct the museum.

He said it would chart the history of the area from prehistoric times and focus on what life was like in the area's coal pits and the Consett Steelworks.

Virtual reality recreations would be a prominent feature of the museum, which was originally part of the plans for the Genesis Business Park, built on the site of the former steelworks.

He said: "At this stage all our attention is on getting the money in place for the feasibility study. We have to research how many people would attend the heritage museum as well as the logistics and the details of what exactly would be in there.

"We have had several meetings with members of the council about it. I have no doubt the study will go ahead and believe it will eventually happen that we have a first class heritage museum here.

"All of us at the history society have worked on this very hard for a long time and we are already members of North-East Museum Service. We would hope to work with Bea-mish museum on the project."

Leader of the council, Alex Watson, also stressed that it was still early days.

He said: "It was originally part of our plans for the Genesis Project but that never happened. These things take a lot of achieving and it is a long trek but we are looking for a serious study and a major lottery bid. Clearly there is a need for a heritage museum here and the whole idea is part of our tourism initiative. We are being as supportive as we can be to the history society on this."