A RE-DESIGN of the district’s museum service could help attract millions in national funding.

The museum and gallery service was due to face a £500,000 budget cut from April, which was likely to have a major impact on how the four council-run facilities – including Cliffe Castle in Keighley – are run.

The move proved hugely controversial, especially as Bradford will be pushing to be named City of Culture 2025.

But shortly before Christmas it was announced that the cut would be postponed a year, giving the service time to review its offer.

At a recent meeting of Bradford Council’s regeneration and environment scrutiny committee, Rosie Crook – interim museums and galleries manager – said the aim was for the museums to gain Arts Council funding, which would massively boost the service.

But she said that in order to gain funding, the council would need to prove it ran a service that better reflected the community.

“We need a clear vision for the service that links it to the community it serves,” she added.

“We have to look at the services we offer, and income-raising services that could be introduced.”

New figures obtained by the Keighley News show that visitor numbers at Cliffe Castle dropped last year – although they were still well up on 2017.

Last year’s total was 80,823, compared to 82,232 in 2018. The number of visitors in 2017 was 66,646.