CASH-strapped Burnley councillors have withdrawn support for a £10 million plan to restore the Empire theatre to its former glory - after hearing the project would close the Mechanics theatre.

The crippling costs of Burnley Light Opera Society's scheme to transform the former town centre bingo hall into a 1,400-seat theatre for the region, were spelled out in a £10,000 feasibility study. Councillors heard that even if the project won a lottery grant, at least £2.5 million would have to be raised locally.

The theatre would also need annual public subsidy of at least £210,000 to keep it afloat - even if it sold 176,000 seats a year, 10 times the attendances attracted to the Mechanics.

With less public demand for the theatre, the deficit could rise to £353,000-a-year, say consultants, Theatresearch, who prepared the study.

Burnley put £2,000 toward the study cost, but recreation and leisure committee members last night brought the curtain down on any further cash backing.

They decided that no further officer time or resources should be spent on developing the project and that the council will not finance the bid for lottery funding. Council finance chairman, Peter Kenyon, said the council should not even make any comment on the proposed bid.

Burnley Light Opera has pledged to press ahead with the scheme, despite the council's lack of support.

It will oppose a private company plan going before councillors tomorrow for the Empire to become a theatre and bar and has lodged its own planning application for restoration.

The council, which needs to save £5 million on existing spending and will have a £47 million shortfall on its capital spending plans over the next five years, simply hadn't the cash to support the theatre project Coun Kenyon said.

Community services director, Ian Saville, said support would involve considerable financial risk but said the council's withdrawal of financial involvement did not mean the Empire project could not go ahead.

But he warned that without the council's involvement as "an anchor", achieving a privately financed and commercially-run Empire would be very difficult.

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