PROPOSALS for a museum to highlight Haddington’s history have “stalled but not died”.

Earlier this year, well-known architect Alan Sheerin outlined plans to transform the former library on the town’s Newton Port.

He hoped that it could become home to a heritage museum, focusing solely on the town – rather than East Lothian as a whole, as the museum at the town’s John Gray Centre does.

However, a for sale sign has now been put in place outside the building.

Mr Sheerin said: “East Lothian Council had given me six weeks in which to come up with the feasibility study and after five weeks the sign went up.

“I suppose in that sense maybe it did not matter that much because the council had [the building] up on the website as being for sale.

“The difficulty I’m having is raising enough interest in it and I had to write to [the council] to say I was not in a position to complete the feasibility study.” Mr Sheerin had linked up with Martin Hayman, from the town’s Community Development Trust, to see if there was both the means and the will for such a project.

The museum would be home to various artefacts and photographs highlighting the town’s past, but also looking at the present and future.

Mr Sheerin had planned for the facility to be different from the nearby John Gray Centre, which covers the whole of the county.

A public meeting was also held to gauge public interest but Mr Sheerin admitted that “hardly anybody turned up”.

He stressed the plans had “stalled but not died” and there was a glimmer of hope, with Mr Sheerin keen to see if the town’s history society could give it some impetus.

He intends to meet with the group’s chairman, Eric Glendinning, to discuss the plans.

However, Mr Glendinning remained unconvinced about the possibility of a new museum being created.

He said: “One of the objectives when the society was set up more than 20 years ago was for a museum but we have enthusiastically embraced the John Gray Centre.

“We are really very lucky to have such a splendid resource and it is open all hours.” The group’s chairman highlighted that there were towns with more than one museum, such as Biggar, but stressed the quality of the centre on Haddington’s Lodge Street.

He added: “One of the good things is if any society has any idea for a special exhibition, [the centre] will put it on.

“They are looking for ideas and they don’t permanently have things on display; they welcome ideas.

“You could have a Haddington-centred exhibition on the pubs and they would be happy to put it on.”