VISITORS to museums across Huddersfield could be forced to pay entrance charges – to help keep a historic venue open.

Kirklees Council officials last week proposed shutting Red House Museum, which is closely linked to 19th Century author Charlotte Bronte.

Last night Labour councillors promised to keep the Gomersal tourist attraction open – even if it meant charging admission to other museums in the area.

Kirklees leader Clr Mehboob Khan said: “We have proposed to save Red House Museum. It is an important part of our history and we want to look at more innovative ways of generating the income needed to keep it running, or look at how we might make the saving elsewhere.”

Kirklees needs to find £116,000 a year to keep Red House open.

Clr Khan said the money could come from charging for entry to other attractions – including Tolson Museum in Moldgreen, Oakwell Hall at Birstall, Dewsbury Museum and Bagshaw House in Batley.

“There’s the potential of charging for Red House,” he said.

“If that doesn’t raise the revenue required to keep it open then we will look at other options, including charges elsewhere, or using the venues for functions like weddings.”

Last week Kirklees officers revealed their proposal to cut £15.7m from next year’s council budget to cope with the public spending squeeze.

Labour last night unveiled its amendments, which would reduce spending by £455,000 less than officers have proposed.

As well as the Red House plan, the ruling party also came out against the controversial proposal to raise extra money by charging residents to collect bulky waste such as old washing machines.

Officials last week suggested bringing in a new charge of £25 for the first three bulky items and £25 per electrical item.

The move would save the council £190,000 a year.

But Clr Khan believes the charges could be counter-productive.

“Bulky waste collection is an area where we feel that imposing a charge at this time may lead to the council paying through having to deal with an increase in fly-tipping,” he said.

Labour also opposes an officer plan to charge householders £25 to replace bins.

Cabinet member for investment Clr David Sheard said residents whose bins were stolen should not have to pay for a replacement.

“The proposal was to charge for all bin deliveries,” he said.

“We will provide a free bin if people provide a crime number, otherwise you pay the delivery charge.”

Labour is also against the plan to cut spending on helping domestic violence victims by £39,000.

Cabinet member for health Clr Molly Walton said: “I’m proposing that we keep some money in the domestic violence unit because there’s likely to be an increase in domestic violence when people are short of money.”

The nine-strong Labour Cabinet unanimously backed the amendments.

Clr Khan blamed the Government for the budget cut.

“Many councils face similar issues to us in that we are being squeezed by central Government at the same time as our income streams are also being hit because of the slow economic recovery,” said the Greenhead Labour man.

“So proposals have been made to reduce our expenditure which we would never have dreamed of considering a few years ago.”

All 69 members of Kirklees Council will vote on the 2012/13 budget at a special meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall from 5pm on February 22.