HUDDERSFIELD MP Barry Sheerman has called for a massive new investment in Britain's museums and library services.

He told the Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council that more cash was vital.

Mr Sheerman said: "We have for too long under-rated the enormous contribution that museums and libraries make to the quality of life in our towns and cities.

"As we become an increasingly educated society, with increasing participation in higher education, we will increasingly become communities that demand the highest standards in our cultural and intellectual life.

"To feed that demand, and the thirst for knowledge of our culture and history, we need the finest facilities from our museums, libraries and public archives.

"We must ensure the cultural sector is provided with the means to meet the increasing demands we will be putting on them."

Mr Sheerman has also tabled parliamentary questions asking how much the Government gives to museums, libraries and archives and what ministers are doing to support this sector.

The call comes days after campaigners battling to preserve Huddersfield's 1930s library received a massive boost.

Users questioned in a survey stressed the importance of the amenity and its architecture.

Comments from people wanting to keep the building far outweighed comments from people who wanted it demolished to make way for a new structure.

It is feared the steel frame of the 70-year-old library could be corroding.

Kirklees Council has put forward seven redevelopment schemes involving the library and art gallery.

The most ambitious includes wholesale redevelopment of the town centre Piazza area.

The least costly would simply involve repairs to the library.

By the middle of next month, building experts will report on the building's state of repair.