‘SERIOUS’ consideration has been given to abandoning plans to build a multi-million-pound theatre because of soaring costs, it has been revealed.

Worcester City Council has been forced to redraw plans to convert the historic Scala Theatre into a new 500-seat performing arts venue because of money woes and has now said it is scrapping another key piece of the project to help pay for the centrepiece work.

The current budget, which has spiralled because of the rising cost of construction and materials, is already millions of pounds short and the council is still trying to hunt down potential investors to bridge the gap.

The council was awarded almost £18m by the government in 2020 to build the new performing arts venue as part of a wider revamp of the northern side of the city centre and the neglected Angel Place.

READ MORE: 'Serious concerns' over spiralling cost of new theatre

Several parts of the project have already been ditched and work to convert the grade II-listed Corn Exchange, next to the Scala Theatre, into a 110-seat venue is the latest to be abandoned because of budget problems.

A report, which will be discussed by the council’s policy and resources committee at a meeting on December 13, said pausing, or even pulling the plug on the project, had become a “matter for more serious consideration.”

“Because of the significant cost pressures applying to this project, and the lack of success so far in identifying additional sources of funding to address these cost pressures, the council must acknowledge that an alternative option is to pause or stop the planned development of the proposed performance arts venue.

“Unless additional sources of funding are identified, it remains a risk that the proposed venue will not be affordable to the council when the procurement process has been concluded and subject to any planning consent that may be granted.”

Concerned officers stopped short of recommending the council calls time on building the new theatre because the project is already quite far down the line.

The report instead recommends continuing the search for a contractor and submitting a planning application before the council weighs up its options again.

READ MORE: New multi-million-pound Scala Theatre in Worcester may be ‘unusable’

The council is waiting anxiously to hear back from ministers over whether it could move around £6 million of the £18 million it was given by the government away from other projects and pump it into making sure the Scala work goes ahead.

The council has asked the government to reconsider its plans, and the funding deal agreed in 2020, by moving the money set aside to turn Trinity House in Trinity Street into flats and the former Co-op building in Angel Street, into a new food hall.

If agreed, the council would also use £100,000 earmarked to help fill empty shops in The Cross and Angel Street and the cash reserved to convert the former Panama Jacks restaurant in Angel Street, which re-opened as a darts-themed bar Dart Side in the summer.

Council managing director David Blake warned councillors in September that the future of the project was almost solely reliant on the government allowing the council to move money away from its list of ditched schemes.

The city council said it “expects” the government to back its request but admits it would still be £500,000 short.

If the government rejects the city council’s plea to swap the money around, the Scala plans would have to be completely redrawn to “substantially reduce costs further” and its “deliverability” would have to be reviewed, the report said.

The council had asked Arts Council England to consider supporting the Corn Exchange work but was rejected.

Alongside funding grants, the council is also looking for charity donations and wealthy donors to plug the gap.

Talks between the council, Worcester Theatres, which plans to run the Scala, and other theatre and performing arts groups resulted in an expensive redesign.

The latest plans would now see the Corn Exchange building used only to house toilets and a bar for Scala visitors alongside ‘flexible’ space for recitals and installations.

The council said it hopes the smaller theatre in the Corn Exchange will still be built in the future.