POOR access for the disabled has delayed a £1.2 million improvement scheme for Burnley's Towneley Hall museum.

The borough council has applied for substantial grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund to add a new wing.

But although the fund trustees have backed the scheme in principle, they have refused to approve any cash until proposals to improve access for the disabled are prepared.

They also want improvements in facilities for visitors at the grade one listed building on the outskirts of the town.

The trustees want the museum to open on Saturdays making it a seven day a week operation and have urged the council to seek extra revenue from elsewhere and improve marketing of the museum.

However the local authority and the museum's curators are hopeful of meeting conditions for a grant. The scheme involves rebuilding the demolished servants' quarters to provide a shop, new offices, an exhibition preparation room, a lecture theatre for schools, a library/research facility, a cafe and new toilets.

The new building would release another four rooms for public exhibitions allowing some of the stored paintings and artefacts to be exhibited regularly for the first time.

Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "I welcome the support from the lottery fund.

"Towneley Hall is a great asset to Burnley and I fully support the council's effort to make this an even more attractive and useful asset to the borough."

Administrative officer Sarah Fergusson said the proposed lift gave access from the ground floor to the first floor via a side door, but the lottery chiefs wanted access to the second floor where the galleries are.

She said curator Susan Bourne would be having a meeting with the architects to discuss ways of meeting the lottery fund's requirements.

She added: "It is looking like we will get the money, but we have to get the disabled access agreed first."

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