HEREFORD City Council has defended its decision to spend £75,000 on a new museum to display the city's historic charters.

The 23 charters, which date back to 1189, are currently kept in the vaults at Hereford Town Hall, along with many items of silver.

For two years the council has been discussing ideas about how to make the charters and silver more accessible to the public, as at the moment the public are only able to get to the vaults down steep stairs.

The vault is also small and has damp, which will damage the charters and silver.

Mayor of Hereford, Sharon Michael said: "It doesn't work. It is not for the 21st century. The items in here are so valuable. They have got to be looked after well and made better use of."

The city council agreed to spend £75,000 to kit out a new civic museum upstairs in an under-utilised room in the Mayor's suite, which is accessible via stairs or a lift.

The council maintain that the £75,000 figure will pay for bandit-resistance display cabinets for the silver, which will line three of the walls, a display cabinet for the charters, which will be humidity controlled, upgrading the alarm system and installing security glazing.

The council put £60,000 aside in general reserves for a new tourist information centre for the city but when Rural Concierge proposed opening the tourist information centre in the Buttermarket, the city council decided to support this and gave £20,000 to the project. This left £40,000, which they decided to put towards the museum.

The council has also applied for a grant from the Lottery Heritage Fund and £20,000 of this could be put towards the museum, which they say leaves a further £15,000 to take from general reserves.

Cllr Sharon Michael said it is important to make sure the historical pieces can be seen by all. Currently visitors need to book an appointment to view the items but Cllr Michael said the new museum will be open at least five days a week and will include a tour of the Mayor's Parlour.

Mayor's officer and city marshall, Roger Stokes, said there would not be an additional cost for staff at the museum.

He said: "The number of people who will come and enjoy it and benefit are huge. At the moment we are almost turning them away because it is all locked up."

The council also highlighted importance of educating youngsters about the history of the city and how the new museum will allow more visits from schools.

Cllr Chris Chappell said: "We are, as councillors, very proud to be custodians of it. We have a duty as elected members to ensure this is seen by as many people as possible."

Mr Stokes knows every story for each piece of silver in the vaults and highlighted two 17th century tankards which Horatio Nelson could have seen when he came to the city in 1802. Following his visit, they disappeared and in 1933 were returned to the town hall in the post from from the widow of a man in Spain who collected pewter.

Mr Stokes said: "How did he get them and how did they get to Spain? Nelson was here and six weeks later he went to Spain."