SALISBURY Arts Centre is on the brink of getting a £m-plus handout, thanks to a decision by Salisbury district council's cabinet.

It is recommending the full council give £190,000 towards the programme of urgent refurbishment work. If this gets the green light from councillors in September, it will bring in a further £400,000 in lottery funding.

The arts centre is undergoing an ambitious £3.8m refurbishment and extension programme, designed to combat the severe wear and tear the Grade II-star listed building has suffered and to provide better facilities.

The council cash will go towards new heating and electrical systems.

The Arts Council has already promised £2m and the Heritage Lottery Fund has earmarked £670,000.

With the council money and further lottery funding, the arts centre is well on the way to raising sufficient money to complete its programme.

Arts centre director Jill Lowe said they were "extremely grateful" for the supportive relationship the centre has with the district council.

She said: "We are delighted with the cabinet's recommendation, which will certainly strengthen the case to the Arts Council. We are poised on the edge of a very exciting opportunity for us, the council, Salisbury and the region.

"If the application to the Arts Council is successful, we should be able to start work on the building by the end of the year."

In the meantime, fundraising will continue, to ensure that there is sufficient money to pay for all the work that needs to be done.

John Cole-Morgan, community and housing portfolio holder at the council, said the "investment" would safeguard the condition of the building for many years to come.

It would also act as a lever to get additional funding from the arts lottery, to secure Heritage Lottery Funding and to save the council from potentially paying out vast sums of money in the future.

He said: "If the lottery bid process fails, the district council, as landlords, could ultimately be left with a bigger bill.

"It is estimated it would cost the authority about £500,000 to put the building in a tenantable condition, and even more to keep the building off the English Heritage 'at risk' register," he said.