ONE of the most iconic performance venues in the region is likely to receive an £8m refurbishment, if a lottery grant is secured as expected.

Middlesbrough councillors agreed earlier today (Tuesday, December 9) to press ahead with developing plans for the £7,780,000 restoration project for the Grade II-listed Middlesbrough Town Hall.

The plan involves the council spending more than £4m, of which half will go on urgent repair, and going head with a bid for £3.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The interior of the small Crypt function room and much larger Concert Hall would be refurbished and there would provide better bars and toilets, a full rewire, new education room and new multi-functional community room.

A meeting of the council's executive committee today heard that the Heritage Lottery Fund would provide an education officer for three years and the old Victorian cells and fire station would be opened up to the public as a visitor attraction.

Negotiations are also being held with the Arts Council of England in an attempt to secure an additional £500,000 to improve the performance spaces in the building and held maintain a classical music programme.

A report to the committee said that in 2007 audiences totalled just 54,000 but that had risen 80,000 in 2013/14. Despite that success urgent repairs were needed and audiences had to face long queues.

The report said that a refurbished Town Hall, which has a 1,800 capacity making it the biggest indoor performance space between Sunderland and Leeds, could provide a significant economic boost for the town. It is hoped that with the Mima art gallery which attracts 100,000 visitors a year, the £12m Holiday Inn hotel due to open next year and the regeneration of Baker Street and Bedford Street will help create a ‘cultural quarter’ for the town.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has already approved a first round application for funding but that does not mean the money has been secured. A more detailed, second stage application will now be submitted.

Cllr Charlie Rooney, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for regeneration and economic development, said: “This will give the Town Hall back to the people and restore it to its former glory.”

If work goes ahead the Town Hall Concert Hall, which currently receives a £440,000 annual subsidy, will be closed from January 2016, until June 2017.

The Heritage Lottery Fund last year approved £4m of funding to refurbish the derelict Globe Theatre in neighbouring Stockton which will be a bigger venue than the Town Hall, able to seat 2,500 people. The Globe is also due to open in 2017.