ADMISSION charges could be launched at Trowbridge Museum to help subsidise booming costs.

Town councillors were forced to make cuts to the museum budget at a meeting on Tuesday after costs shot-up by seven per cent on last year.

Museum committee members face having to pinch money from elsewhere in the budget after agreeing not to renew a £5,125 insurance policy for exhibits.

By using smaller, more specialised insurance firms, members hope they can scale down the insurance premiums and borrow the money from elsewhere.

Museum curator Clare Lyall will compile a report looking into the impacts and benefits of introducing charges to the museum which has been free entry to the public since opening in 1990.

The museum employs five members of staff including a weaver on weekends and a caretaker.

A budget of £130,000 was originally set aside for the facility. This figure was slashed to just under £125,000 on Tuesday night.

The majority of the museum's budget comes from Trowbridge residents through council tax.