THE cash crisis at Wiltshire College means the only theatre in Trowbridge has to find an extra £25,000 to make up a funding shortfall.

The college, left £1.8m in the red after an audit uncovered discrepancies in student records, has in the past provided £50,000 of the £90,000 it costs to run the theatre each year.

This amount will now be halved as the college tries to claw back its losses.

Theatre director Deryck Newland said: "We are currently in consultation with other public bodies with regard to funding.

"The issue is to ensure we can put a funding package together so we can not only sustain the theatre but continue to develop it."

The county, district and town councils already provide grants to the theatre and managers have already met with council officials to discuss working out a funding package.

Mr Newland said: "What we have expressed to them is we need to bridge the financial gap but if that is done in partnership between them it is a relatively small amount of money from each."

The heavy subsidy from the college mainly comes from drama students using the facility, which is part of the campus.

There are currently about 50 performing arts students who use the theatre to stage their productions, but the main use of the facility is still by local people.

The theatre sells 11,000 tickets a year and puts on 125 performances.

Over 200 young people from west Wiltshire also use the site every week for specialist youth dance and drama groups.

Mr Newland said: "Ha-ving been so successful in building the theatre from scratch over the last five years it would be a great shame to have to reduce our level or scope of activity."

Staff at Wiltshire College, which caters for 30,000 students at sites including Trowbridge, have been told that cutbacks, including redundancies, will have to be made to make up the budget deficit.

A series of recording errors meant that the college received funds for students not actually taking classes, which now has to be repaid.

Negotiations are currently under way with unions and a meeting with college officials is due to be held in June.