THE archaeological trust responsible for excavating Newport's med-ieval ship will tomorrow learn whether the council will save it from insolvency.

The Gwent and Glamorgan Archaeological Trust (GGAT) met Newport council officers and solicitors on Wednesday in the hope of solving a contractual argument that could see it go bust.

GGAT chairman Bob Trett was told at the meeting that he would be informed tomorrow whether the council is prepared to pay the trust over £30,000 owed to it.

As exclusively revealed by the Argus, the Gwent and Glamorgan Archaeological Trust is in dispute with Newport council over £102,000 for work done.

The council initially refused to pay GGAT for four other jobs relating to the ship dig while the dispute rages on.

Those jobs were agreed under a separate contract which the trust claims amounts to over £30,000, a figure that could save GGAT from insolvency.

The trust, which had to extend its bank overdraft to pay staff salaries in March, revealed last week that it is in severe danger of going bust if it doesn't receive that money.

Mr Trett told the Argus: "We've been told that we'll know by Friday whether we can have the £31,000, the meeting was fairly amicable but the officers we spoke to need to get it cleared by cabinet members.

"Friday is D-day, we'll know whether we can carry on going or whether we will have to fold.

"If they decide not to pay us then we can't pay our staff their next salaries." If GGAT does receive the money it will offer the council arbitration over the other, larger sum in dispute.

Mr Trett added: "We have the records for the numbered timbers that have been dug up. "We can't finish working on the records and hand them over to the authorities if we don't have any staff. Without these records which are essentially a plan of the reconstructed ship, all the council has is a pile of wood."

The chairman of the Friends of the Ship group, Simon Rutherford, said: "It seems extraordinary that the council would risk bankrupting the archaeological experts."

Newport council's head of continuing learning and leisure Iain Varah said: "We have a number of considerations that we need to discuss. We won't make comment on a contractual issue - we are consulting appropriately and seeking advice."