A COUPLE'S plans to rescue the Museum of Oxford by turning it into an 'open college' and European cultural centre were welcomed by Oxfordshire County Council.

Jonathan Ungar, 30, and Eleanor Malaurie, 30, of Cowley Road, Oxford, want to use the museum's collection to bring great men and women of Oxford's past, such as Lewis Carroll, to life. They plan to use film animators and artists to help achieve this.

The museum was threatened with closure earlier this year when neither the county council nor Oxford City Council made budget provision for its £80,000 a year running costs in 1998/99.

The city council - which provided £40,000 to keep it open last year - stepped in at the last minute with a rescue package but the county council is saying it wants to keep all options open.

Tom Forrest, the county's director of leisure and arts, said county councillors admired Mr Ungar's enthus- iasm and wanted to give him a fair chance to develop his ideas. They have asked Mr Forrest to negotiate with both the city council and Mr Ungar and report back before the end of March - which is when present funding for the museum runs out. "The most important thing is to keep a museum in Oxford but there is a real problem with the timescale. The city council did not decide to take over the museum until March 9 and at that point imposed conditions which need time to satisfy," he added.

"County councillors were anxious that the city council's conditions might not be met in the short time that is left and that ruling out Mr Ungar's ideas would leave the museum high and dry."

Mr Forrest promised that the city council's offer to take over the museum would be given full consideration. The county council announcement followed a scathing attack by Bob Price, chairman of the city's finance committee, who criticised the county council for not preparing a business plan for the museum.

Mr Ungar's plans depend on getting funding from the European Union and the national lottery and being granted charitable status for the museum and planned cultural centre.

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