The future of Snibston Discovery Park is under scrutiny, the Leicester Mercury can reveal today.

Various options for the Coalville tourist attraction are being considered by owner Leicestershire County Council, to cut costs.

The museum and park costs £636,000 a year to run and sources say it could be scaled down, or even shut, to help the council administration's pledge to save £70m over four years.

One source told the Mercury the Conservative cabinet was "deeply discussing the future of Snibston" because of the need to make cuts.

The source said: "There are a number of options being kicked around – full closure and selling off the site and giving up the collection to other museums in the city and county."

This summer, the Heritage Lottery Fund said council plans to preserve listed Victorian buildings at the Ashby Road site had been short-listed for a £3m grant.

However, a source claimed the second-round bid for the project, called Mining Lives, would not go ahead because if it was successful it would leave the council having to find cash to match fund the project.

Yesterday, the Leicester Mercury put the claims to Councillor David Parsons, leader of the council.

He said: "Snibston, along with every county council facility, will have to look at how it runs itself because we have an awful funding situation.

"Its future is as secure as any other facility that we run at the moment.

"Economic times are hard but I'm not looking at Snibston to make a bigger contribution than any other."

A council spokeswoman said it would make a decision on whether to make a second-round application for the Mining Lives scheme in February.

She said officers were evaluating "the additional costs" of the bid and that "decisions on additional expenditure" would be taken "very carefully".

Coalville district councillor John Legrys said: "I continue to hear rumours about the closure of Snibston Discovery Park. "However, the people I speak to at County Hall continue to reassure me that the park has a future.

"However, these rumours are continuing to reach my e-mail inbox."

North West Leicestershire MP David Taylor joined a delegation to London in March to meet Heritage Lottery Fund bosses.

He said: "I would be shocked and disgusted if Snibston was to close."

He added that if the county council was to throw "some doubt on its future, they will have a battle on their hands".

A decade ago Snibston attracted 150,000 visitors every year.

That number has dropped to about 96,000 visitors annually in the past couple of years.

There have been 57,800 visitors so far this year.

The Mercury tried to speak to county museums spokesman Councillor Ernie White but he would not discuss the matter and referred us to the county council press office.

The tourist attraction opened in 1992 after County Hall bought the Snibston Colliery site, which closed in 1985. The historic mining buildings have been designated as ancient monuments by the Government. About 30 people work at the site.

Des Gallagher, acting head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said it was advising the council and looking forward to a second-round application.

He added: "We cannot, of course, prejudge the outcome of such a submission, but it clearly has the potential to be a flagship project, not just for the county, but also for the region."