CIVIC chiefs are backing a multi-million-pound plan to transform a popular museum and art gallery.

Members of Lymington and Pennington Town Council have thrown their support behind an application to turn the St Barbe complex into a flagship heritage venue.

The views expressed by town councillors will be taken into account when the application is decided by New Forest District Council next month.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the £2m scheme includes a wavy facade that aims to reflect the museum’s setting in a maritime town.

A cafe, an easily accessible public archive and a wide range of interactive displays are also planned.

Museum bosses have already received £146,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and are hoping to be presented with a total of £1.5m.

Mark Tomlinson, director of St Barbe, said he was delighted to have won the backing of the town council.

He added: “The £1.5m provisional commitment by the fund rests on – and assumes – that local people value St Barbe and support its ambition.

“The works are part of a major five-year project to enhance St Barbe’s services to this town and to support its long-term survival.

“This is an opportunity to be brave.”

Daily Echo:

Staff and volunteers at St Barbe Museum celebrate the good news

The museum, a former school in New Street, Lymington, is not a listed building but forms part of a conservation area governed by strict planning policies.

Mr Tomlinson said there was scope for what he described as “good new architecture” in any conservation area.

He added that the proposed improvements were an opportunity to take pride in a building that would transcend fashions and provide a legacy for the future generations to enjoy.

Town councillors stipulated that the revamp should use traditional bricks that matched the Victorian brickwork of the original building.

Speaking after the meeting a St Barbe spokesman said: “The council recognised the changing profile of New Street and the mixed nature of the existing architecture.”

As reported in the Daily Echo, St Barbe was recently described by VisitEngland as looking more like a doctors’ surgery than a museum.

The assessor said: “The exterior porch does not really suggest that there is either a very good museum or art gallery.”