THE body that controls some of Scotland's major tourist attractions has been accused of bias towards the central belt over the potential closure of a museum.
Gordon Mann, chief executive of Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of Commerce, hit out after National Museums Scotland (NMS) proposed the closure of its National Museum of Costume at Shambellie House in New Abbey, near Dumfries.
NMS runs six attractions, including the National Museum of Scotland, which reopened following a £47 mil-lion transformation and also received a £4.85m boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the next phase of its development.
Other centres to have received funding include the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune in East Lothian and the National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.
However, the NMS singled out the Museum of Costume in Dumfries and Galloway, which charts the nation's fashion history, for closure in October, blaming low visitor numbers and high running costs.
In a letter in today's Herald, Mr Mann said: "Their proposal to close it is in stark contrast to the way they have developed and invested in the National Museum of Flight and the National Museum of Rural Life, where they have invested heavily and relaunched them to great acclaim and growing visitor numbers.
"The Costume Museum seems to be the Cinderella collection of the NMS and has not seen any major investment. Not surprisingly its visitor numbers are low."
Built in 1856 for the Stewart family, the collection was donated to the Royal Scottish Museum (now NMS) in 1977 and represents the only national collection in the region.
Mr Mann said the costume museum represents only 0.65% of the NMS's total budget but gets around 15,000 visitors, which is 1.1% of the body's total attendances.
A spokesman for NMS said: "We are committed to providing access to the national collections across Scotland through loans of our treasures, touring exhibitions and outreach programmes.
"We believe we can offer significant benefits to Dumfries and Galloway through working in this way, an approach that has been very successful in other areas of Scotland.
"We have met with a number of external stakeholders from the Dum-fries and Galloway area, including representatives from Dumfries and Galloway Council and local MSPs. It was very helpful to hear their views at first hand, and discussions are continuing.
"We have seen a reduction in funding as a consequence of the recession. Consequently the Board of Trustees concluded it can no longer continue to operate the site at this level."
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "I am aware of significant local concerns about the proposed closure of the National Museum of Costume, and recognise the considerable challenges faced by National Museums Scotland in operating the site."
MSPs are to debate the issue today at the request of Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland. She is asking for a further year of consultation.
Ms Beamish added: "A years' grace would allow local stakeholders and National Museums Scotland to come up with a viable plan for the future, which would prevent local businesses suffering from the removal of one of Dumfries's most popular tourist attractions."
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