Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) and the city's Thinktank science attraction are to merge into a new single trust under proposals approved by the local authority.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) approved a business case for the formation of a charitable trust to take over the running of the attractions, as well as other council-owned museums. According to a report put before BCC's cabinet on 11 July said that combining BMAG and Thinktank would improve the city's standing among other global museums.

The Thinktank trust board already agreed to transfer services into the single trust, following a meeting held on 22 June. The trust will be wholly-owned by the council. BCC cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture Martin Mullaney said: "It's important to stress this is not a knee-jerk reaction to the current economic climate. This proposal is the culmination of a lot of hard work over a three-year period.

"We're looking at exciting new opportunities for the city's museums in terms of fundraising and collaborative working. For example, we can work much more closely with Thinktank in terms of complementary programming."