LOCAL support for the planned £1m redevelopment of a North Yorkshire venue is essential, organisers have said.

Architects, plans to revamp Malton's Milton Rooms are almost ready to be unveiled, and members of the building's management committee hope to apply for planning permission in the coming months.

Some of the cash for the ambitious development could come from grants schemes, but committee chairman David Ackroyd said they were searching closer to home as well.

"Funding will have to come from various sources, primarily from funding bodies like the lottery commission and so on," he said.

"But we will have to do a lot of fundraising ourselves, and we would hope that other Milton Rooms friends will also help, like the various organisations that use the Rooms."

Once plans have been drawn up, quantity surveyors will be brought in to work out the costing for the project.

It is thought they could be somewhere around £1million, Mr Ackroyd said.

He added: "We certainly will be looking for a huge amount of support - we will still have to raise substantial sums before the scheme goes ahead.

"But at the end of the day Malton will have a first class venue."

Updated: 11:48 Wednesday, January 08, 2003