A PROPOSAL to temporarily close Keighley Police & Forensic Science Museum was rejected by members of Keighley Town Council.

The motion was put forward by councillor Amjid Ahmed and seconded by deputy mayor coun Javaid Akhtar at last night's (January 29) reconvened town council meeting.

Coun Ahmed said legal advice received from the National Association of Local Councils indicated that the council did not have the necessary authority to operate such a facility.

"This is about legality," he said. "We've had legal advice which says that we're not doing this right. We're supposed to be professionals here.

"If we want to re-open the museum later with the proper legal framework in place, then that's fine."

Coun Akhtar emphasised that the recommendation to close the museum temporarily had nothing to do with whether the attraction is viable or not.

He said even if the council uses the authority within new localism legislation called General Power of Competence, this would still require it to operate the museum indirectly through a friends group, a company or a charity.

Supporting the motion, coun Gary Pedley said that while the museum itself may be self-funding, it was part of the civic centre building that is failing to pay for itself.

"I have never wished for the civic centre to close," he said. "But what bothers me is the mismanagement and the exorbitant costs this building is imposing on the public.

"We are not businessmen or entrepreneurs. Why don't we get professionals in?"

But Keighley town mayor councillor Graham Mitchell said: "When the civic centre was first opened we didn't rush into things. We took legal advice across the board and none of the advice given at that time said that this was unlawful."

Coun Sally Walker said: "I can't see what the problem is. We're providing something that people are interested in and we've had donations of very expensive equipment to run the museum.

"A lot of the people who seem to disagree with the museum being open have never even been inside it."

Coun Tony Wright said: "We've now got the General Power of Competence which means we can run the museum under this power.

"This proposal is a rather weak attempt to put forward a hidden agenda by those who don't like the civic centre.

"As soon as we try to get anything good done there are people trying to close it down. Everything being debated here is to try and stop this council from doing its work."

Coun Ron Beale said he had still received no clear guidance on whether the museum's operation was lawful or unlawful. He said the town clerk's response that the council has the option of using the General Power of Competence to run the museum via a charity did not actually answer his question.

A named vote on the proposal saw it defeated by 14 votes to five with one abstention.