A PROJECT to convert Settle's Victoria Hall into a community arts centre is one step nearer fruition after council chiefs provisionally agreed to contribute £30,000 to the work.

Members of Craven District Council's policy and resources committee unanimously endorsed a recommendation to ask the council's economic and development committee to allocate £30,000 from the 1998/1999 regeneration budget.

However, this contribution will be subject to the rest of a funding package being in place.

This includes successful applications being made to funding bodies such as the Rural Development Commission, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Settle Town Council.

Coun Robert Heseltine said: "This amount of £30,000 is the absolute minimum when morally we know we've let that hall run down into absolute disrepair."

Coun Carl Lis added: "It would cost an awful lot more to do something with that building than £30,000 and this project is the best we're going to get for the hall."

A quantity surveyor has estimated that the total cost of general repair and restoration work would be in the region of £304,000.

The refurbished hall would provide four community and multi-purpose rooms and the enhancement of stage and audience facilities.

The Settle Victoria Hall Project Committee has already raised £9,000 from its own fundraising efforts.

But it hopes to approach a variety of charities and trusts, and the private sector in order to reduce the amount requested from the lottery.

The council's funding officer Tony Mullin reaffirmed in a report to the committee how important it was to give the project this £30,000 cash boost and how in the long run it would save the council money.

He said: "It is extremely doubtful that any of the major funders would consider making a contribution in the absence of a significant contribution from the local council."

Mr Mullin added: "Furthermore, if the project does not go ahead, the council will be faced with the prospect of carrying out the repairs and maintenance, which could be as much as £50,000 for the roof alone.

"If the council was not able to find the money for essential repairs, the likelihood is that the hall would have to close as the building would become unsafe."

The hall, which was built in 1853 as a music hall, is one of the oldest theatres in the country and over the years has been used as a setting for plays, opera and concerts.

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