PLANS are being drawn up to move exhibits from Dudley Museum to the borough’s archives building in Tipton Road, it has been confirmed.

Dudley Museum and Art Gallery in St James’s Road is due to close at the end of the year as part of cost-cutting plans announced by Dudley Council last October.

The closure plan met with much-opposition and more than 4,000 people signed an online petition set up by Dudley student Ross Crompton calling for the popular museum to be saved.

Council chiefs, however, have now come up with a compromise solution – to relocate the museum’s exhibits to the borough’s state-of-the-art archives centre in Tipton Road next to the Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Zoological Gardens.

They say the move will put the museum in the heart of Dudley’s tourism complex and offer visitors better parking, access for people with disabilities and transport links.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Dudley’s cabinet member responsible for tourism, said: “It makes absolute sense to move the exhibitions to the archives to benefit from the existing tourism at Castle Hill.

“We are carrying out some work at the archives to make sure the museum is a popular attraction that welcomes people from far and wide to enjoy the exhibitions on geology and many more.

“We have met with campaigners and taken the time to show them around the archives building and explain our vision to retain the exhibitions in a first class facility.

“These are really exciting proposals and will overcome all the issues we have had with parking and transport links at the current site, while creating something that will be as popular with school visits and people wanting to explore the steeped history of Dudley and everything that made this borough famous.”

The council is now in talks with the owners of many of the collections for permission to move them to the archives site early next year.

Cllr Ahmed added: “We are drawing up a plan for moving the exhibits, some of which are privately owned, while making improvements for visitors when they arrive at the new museum.

“This is a careful process but we are committed to making sure that people have access to all the very best displays which tell the story of Dudley.”

If all goes to plan, the new museum at the archives will open next summer.

The old red-brick museum building in the town centre is expected to be sold off for redevelopment.