THE closure of Clitheroe Castle Museum on winter weekdays has been blasted by a Ribble Valley councillor.

Coun Graham Sowter said there was little point in asking staff to market the landmark, only for visitors to find it closed. "It's a misdirection of priorities," he told the council's community committee..

He warned there was a danger that closing the museum in the winter would create a downwards spiral and end up permanently affecting visitor numbers.

Coun Sowter added that potential visitors to the area must be told about the museum.

"It needs to be a major part of the council's website. It wouldn't take much to double the number of visitors. I think closing the museum is a little bit premature," he said.

Coun John Hill added: "It must be very demoralising for staff when there are very few people in the museum. I think we should build on what we have got."

He went on to say that Clitheroe needs an event in the winter to attract people to the area.

Councillors agreed to shut the museum during the week and close it for the whole of January.

But they agreed staff would not take a cut in hours because they would undertake promotional work in winter.

Council officer Chris Hughes said that four years ago the opening hours were temporarily extended, but a council study showed numbers of visitors between November and February were very low in 1998/9 and opening five days a week was not proving viable.

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