A QUESTION mark hangs over the future of a museum and an art gallery in the North-East.
Stockton's Green Dragon Museum and Billingham Art Gallery could be scrapped following a Stockton Borough Council cabinet decision to find "other cultural but non-museum uses" for both buildings.
A decision has been made to "rationalise" Stockton's museums, which, a council report states, have "been in relative decline for a period of years, reflected in both attendance at venues and satisfaction ratings in surveys".
In 2000, 82 per cent of visitors said they were "very satisfied" with Stockton's premier Preston Hall Museum, 95 per cent with the Green Dragon and 82 per cent with Billingham Art Gallery. By last year, this had dropped to 57 percent, 51 percent and 59 percent respectively.
A council spokesman insisted last night: "The Green Dragon is fully booked until the end of this financial year and Billingham Art Gallery has exhibitions booked through until 2008."
Town history guide Bob Harbron, founder of the Norton Heritage Group, fears for the future of the grade two listed Green Dragon museum - whose history can be traced back more than 300 years.
He said: "I think this is simply money talking and another nail in the coffin for the history of Stockton."
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