WEYMOUTH Museum looks set to be brought in to the 21st century.

The Management Committee of the Weymouth and Portland Borough Council have agreed to support the museum’s trust in its bid to expand the museum.

They also unanimously consented to the appointment of Cllr James Farquharson, Preston, as director of Weymouth Museum Ltd and the representative of the council on the trust.

The proposals would see the museum expanded to occupy four floors in the historic Brewers Quay building with a new gallery and café.

Inside the brewing equipment and structures, protected relics of the building’s past, will remain in place.

The building is owned by Brewers Quay Investments who leased out the property to Weymouth Museum Limited.

Cllr James Farquharson said: “There’s an opportunity for Weymouth to have a leading museum. Weymouth is one of the biggest tourism spots in Dorset. It should have a museum and it should have a really great museum.

We want to connect people in Weymouth with their history and tell tourists something about the local culture.”

The museum trust is searching for sources to help them foot the estimated £300,000 bill.

The committee agreed that once it had seen evidence of expenditure, the council could release £94,000 worth of reserves for the new museum project.

Originally, these reserves totalled £100,000 but the council gave £6,000 to the trust to aid it bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It is hoped that this application will be successful and a substantial grant given to the project.

The ultimate goal is for the museum to operate with no further support from the council once the funding has been found.

In the past, plans for redevelopment of the site have fallen through.

In 2012, shortly after the Weymouth Museum Trust was formed, Brewer’s Quay planned a multi-million-pound redevelopment and the trust’s application for the lottery fund made it passed the first stage of the application.

Unfortunately, with the development was put on hold indefinitely and the museum was forced to withdraw its application.

Mr Farquharson said about the past of the project: “The history is the history. I have to look forward. These plans look concrete.”