AN AMBITIOUS project to transform an old railway building into an arts centre has taken a leap towards reality after it was granted more than £350,000 in funding.

A team of dedicated volunteers under the name Rail Lands Regeneration Trust received planning permission in October to turn the building into a full-time arts centre, complete with café, retractable seating, PA system and cinema screen and projector.

Plans also include an extension for toilets and a kitchen, an outdoor stage for open-air events and a static railway carriage, which will be used as an arts studio.

Tetbury Town Council voted unanimously to financially support the volunteer-led renovation of the town’s Goods Shed last week.

Councillors backed the plans at a town council meeting last Monday, voting to increase their grant to the project from the £150,000 previously agreed, to £361,792.

Members of the council’s Finance and Scrutiny Committee had recommended councillors approved the Public Works Loan Board loan, which will cost the council £21,320 every year for the next 25 years.

The first year’s instalment will be paid from the council’s coffers and councillors hope the rest will come from the 30 per cent increase in precept gathered from the extra families moving into the town’s new developments.

They will also repay the loan with £111,792 from contributions given to the community by the developers, known as Section 106 money.

At the meeting Cllr Kevin Painter said: “It’s about time this town actually did something instead of just talking about it, so I fully support this.

“It’s good for people in Tetbury to know things are moving forward.”

The entire Goods Shed project is set to cost £627,343. The volunteers have already raised £136,700 in grants and they hope any shortfall will be covered by £175,000 worth of grant bids already submitted.

Rail Lands Regeneration Trust chairman Will Cook said he was “delighted” with the council decision.

Cllr Bryan Edge, said: “I’ve looked at the plans very closely and I think they’ve got a good act – I think this will be a real asset to the town.”

Cllr Stephen Hirst, who chairs the Finance and Scrutiny Committee, which suggested the loan be accepted, said the Goods Shed committee wanted to the build to begin in the New Year and be finished by the end of 2016.

Cotswold District Council granted permission for the build at the end of October.