I WAS appointed Curator of Newport Museum in 1984 and served there for 18 years. Having looked at the proposed council budget cuts, I do have sympathy for the council faced with such huge, unsustainable and irresponsible cuts in their grant by central government. However their proposals would sound the death knell for the museum and gallery. This would put all the collections (acquired mostly by donations or grants from many individuals and organisations over 125 years) at serious risk.

The collections are huge and varied, and are worth several million pounds in financial terms alone. In terms of national and international interest, they are of major importance, but in terms of local culture and heritage, they are irreplaceable. They cannot be shifted in a matter of months to other unspecified premises. There are major questions over the care of the collections.

If the museum and gallery collections are moved, it will require many specialised staff and several years. Anything else could and should involve the council in official investigations and potential litigation from donors and grant givers. Is it not also ironic that the council can afford to borrow tens of millions of pounds for the city centre redevelopment, and yet might not retain a major facility already there?

Bob Trett, Goldcroft Common, Caerleon