FYLDE borough councillors have given supporters of plans for an arts centre in St Annes another chance to prove their project would work.

Members of the policy and resources committee met on Monday (July16) to discuss whether the council would support plans for an arts centre on the site of the former Blackpool and The Fylde College building on Clifton Drive.

Members of St Annes Community Arts Centre Trust want to develop the building to include a theatre, exhibition space, practice rooms, an internet facility and a cafe.

And at a full council meeting last December, councillors had agreed to provide a grant of £75,000 for the centre -- providing a feasibility study was favourable and an Arts Lottery bid by the trust was successful.

But the North West Arts Board recently turned down the trust's lottery application, while the feasibility report said: "The business plan does not present a convincing case that the centre could operate viably without significant ongoing subsidy."

Despite this double whammy, councillors voted by 16 to nine to give the centre's supporters more time to prove it is viable.

John Bentham, vice chairman of St Annes Community Arts Centre Trust, said: "We're glad to have the opportunity to be able to explain our proposals in detail.

"I am not sure the majority of the councillors really understand the complex nature of what we are proposing. It's as much a community centre as an arts centre."

He said there is still a groundswell of public support for the centre and that it was possible the project could attract funding from business. "We might find a patron," he said.

The trust can now review its plans before the council's next policy and resources committee meeting in September.

Committee chairman Councillor Paul Hayhurst told The Citizen: "Unless somebody comes forward and perhaps gives them between £250,000 to £500,000 to go ahead I can't see what the future holds for them.

"We are in a situation where the council at a cost of £5,000 has commissioned a report which states firstly it's not viable and secondly they have failed to get a grant from the arts lottery bid. I can't see what further time is going to provide."