LIFELINE funding for Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre will go ahead.

Hyndburn Council cabinet members approved a £30,000 cash boost to help the centre and theatre continue to run.

Earlier this year, Hyndburn Council scrutiny committee members heard a plea from Gayle Knight of Hyndburn Arts for a one-off £30,000 cash injection to keep the Civic Arts Theatre in Oswaldtwistle running.

Ms Knight told the committee without the funding, the centre could have to close.

A spate of cancelled bookings has contributed to cash flow problems for the trust.

And now cabinet members have backed recommendations from the scrutiny committee to provide the cash.

£10,000 will be provided to the trust immediately, with two further tranches of £10,000 later this year dependent on conditions laid out by councillors.

Leader of the council, Cllr Miles Parkinson, said: "I'm not an arty sort of person but I recognise that we need culture in Hyndburn.

"We don't want to be looking like East Germany and if you look at anywhere which has changed dramatically, it's arts and culture which are the catalyst for change."

Cllr Marlene Howarth added: "It needed to be investigated a little bit more thoroughly because the business side was not doing quite as well.

"I think this is absolutely the right thing to do because it is public money and we should be looking after it and making surer we are not throwing good after bad."

The second £10,000 cash injection is subject to a documented plan to be submitted to the next overview and scrutiny meeting undertaking a review of the board of directors including a skills audit to identify any skills gap on the board as well a strategy to attract new board members to offer advice and guidance in addressing any shortfall.

And a bimonthly report will be submitted to overview and scrutiny with a review by the finance office.

A set schedule of monthly board meetings up to March 2020 must be agreed.

And trust members must give a time frame for when the accounts for the current financial year will be finalised and submitted to companies house.

A review of cost savings measures and an action plan must be put together and officials have to highlight any funding opportunities that Hyndburn Arts have bid for and the outcome.

Tranche 3: (19th December 2019)

For the final £10,000 boost, trust bosses must meet all the criteria for the second tranche and provide a forecast for 2020/21 using the new format from the financial review