Plans submitted for Worcester arts centre despite budget gap

The true cost of the project will not be known until it is built, the council said

Plans for an arts centre have been officially submitted by a council despite the budget being millions of pounds short.

Several aspects of the project for the former Scala Theatre in Worcester have already been scrapped by the city council.

The authority said it was still waiting for government approval to divert £6m away from other projects.

Consultation over the planning application will end on 25 January.

A statement submitted along with the bid admitted building "every element of the aspirational brief" had become "significantly beyond the budget of the project".

Among the parts of the scheme which have been dropped are work to convert the neighbouring Grade II listed Corn Exchange into a 110-seat venue and plans for a dance studio and rehearsal space.

Councillors in December voted to push on with building the new venue despite fears the final cost of the project would not be known until it was built, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The authority had considered abandoning the scheme due to "significant" costs.

It said it expected the government to back its request to move the £6m but, having abandoned plans to sell the Swan Theatre, admitted the project could still be as much as £850,000 short.