Huntingdon Town Council is considering taking on a 999-year leasehold of the Cromwell Museum building.
The museum’s future was cast into doubt when Cambridgeshire County Council, owner of the High Street premises, made plans to withdraw funding by April 2016.
HTC offered to take on the building but declined an original suggestion of a 100-year lease, as it would have preferred the freehold. Latest proposals will give the council a 999-year lease on the museum.
Speaking at a town council meeting on Thursday (September 4), clerk Philip Peacock warned that the authority did not want to land itself with a huge bill for looking after the building.
The council is to secure quotes for the cost of surveying the building before proceeding any further. Following a review of the way the museum is run, a trust is to be formed to operate the museum, which theoretically could then lease the building from the town council.
Proposals and a possible building survey will be discussed at a future finance committee meeting.
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