MALVERN Theatres is to be offered a reduced grant but an extended rent-free lease from Malvern Hills District Council for the next three years.

Members of the council executive committee have agreed a proposal to cut the annual revenue grant from £190,000 to £150,000 but want to offer a 50-year lease to help secure the theatre's future.

The buildings are owned by the district council, which is also planning to provide a capital grant of £50,000 a year for repairs and introduce a profit-sharing scheme so that if the theatres become more successful, a proportion of the profits will go back to the council.

Malvern Theatres are run by a charitable trust, which was created in 1995, and at that stage the council provided an annual revenue grant of £300,000 - reducing by five per cent each year until 1999/2000.

Council leader and council representative on the trust board Serena Croad said: "We have already negotiated with the theatres and this is, I hope, the final stage.

"This is what the executive committee is offering the theatres. We are a small district council but we do not want to leave the theatres at any risk. We need to work with the trust to finalise the agreement," he said.

The council has identified new priorities for spending this year.

They are economic prosperity, planning for the future, children and young people and managing waste.

The council's offer will be put to Malvern Theatres Trust at a meeting on Monday, March 10.

Nic Lloyd, chief executive of Malvern Theatres, said he was unable to comment until the negotiations were complete.