QUESTION marks could be hanging over several museums in East Lancashire as County Hall looks to save £223million before 2020.

Several non-statutory services – including the museums and archive service – will be reviewed as part of this year’s budget process.

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In a briefing note seen by the Lancashire Telegraph, the prospect of downsizing museums is explored.

Even the ‘commercial’ value of some of the historic collections held in trust by the county is discussed, and whether larger museums or collections would be interested in them.

County officials oversee Clitheroe Castle, Burnley’s Queen Street, Gawthorpe Hall and Helmshore Textile museums, as well as the Museum of Lancashire at Preston.

The note says: “There is no obvious legal impact of stopping the museums, arts development, 84 per cent of the cultural services support and development team, and the community heritage services, however, the impact for staff, citizens of Lancashire, and the wider economic and social value of those needed to be considered prior to any decision being made.”

County councillors fear they will not have enough funds to cover statutory services by 2017-18.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: “We’ve undertaken an analysis of how the county council’s budget is currently allocated, to give councillors some clarity and detail that will help them in the next round of budget decisions.

“This analysis provides a breakdown of which services, or part of each service, are needed to fulfill a statutory requirement.

“Many services the council provides are not statutory and this analysis should not be taken as an indication of further budget proposals.

“Councillors are having to give careful consideration to all areas of the budget because of unprecedented financial pressures caused by cuts to funding by central government and rising demand for social care services.”