A DECISION will be made later this month whether to bail out a leading North-East tourist attraction.

Sunderland City Council is to decide whether to provide £125,000 which would guarantee the future of Sunderland Glass Centre.

Officers are recommending that councillors approve the proposal for the payments, which be paid every year for three years and trigger similar annual payments from Northern Arts and the Arts Council.

The council is already funding the attraction £80,000-a-year, but the arrangement runs out shortly.

The money will help the glass centre to pay off losses run up by two tenants who went bust, owing the centre thousands of pounds, and implement a business plan drawn up following a consultant's report.

The money could allow management to provide free admission to the attraction, which they think will raise visitor numbers from 65,000 to 100,000.

The centre also lost money when grants did not materialise.

Some grants have been forthcoming. In May this year the centre, at Monkwearmouth, won two European grants amounting to £148,719 for glass artists aiming for business success to enter the market using the centre's facilities.