Army unveils plans for £23m vehicles museum

March 28, 2002

The wraps have come off ambitious plans to build a £23m museum in the region.

The Army confirmed last September that Marne Barracks, at Catterick, North Yorkshire, had been earmarked as a possible location for a new facility to display historic military vehicles.

Many of the existing museums around the UK are already full and, with the National Army Museum, in Chelsea, London overflowing, the need for an alternative has become urgent.

However, rather than being built as a fall-back, the project has taken on greater significance.

The building would be known as the National Army Museum North, and would employ more than 70 people and aim to attract tens of thousands of visitors a year.

Military hardware

An application for half the funding has already been submitted to the National Lottery, which is expected to announce a decision in June.

It is hoped the remainder of the money to cover construction costs would come from the Government, as well as through partnerships with the private sector.

Much of the £23m would be invested in the building itself. Architects' drawings envisage a swooping roof line, with space inside to display tanks, trucks and other military hardware in artificial environments built to reflect the theatres the vehicles were designed to operate within.

A café and an auditorium are also included in the blueprints, which went on show for the first time when Richmondshire District Council's economic, cultural and leisure committee met in the Wensleydale village of West Burton this week.

‘We would expect the museum to support the incomes of as many as 800 people in one way or another,’ said David Smurthwaite, assistant director of the National Army Museum.

From The Northern Echo

Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Sue Kelly