BRAZEN Beacon bosses left councillors astonished by begging for a £1 million rescue package while outlining no plans on how to run the venue, the Tele has learned.

Theatre chiefs asked Inverclyde Council for an emergency handout to help settle a near £2m bill with the construction company that built the waterfront theatre.

The funding crisis was discussed at a private meeting in the Municipal Buildings on Tuesday but it’s understood that Beacon management offered no explanation as to how the troubled arts centre will be run in the future to justify such a huge handout of public money.

But theatre chiefs insist there IS a business plan which is being looked at again following the recent announcement of £600,000 worth of funding over three years from Creative Scotland.

A letter was sent to council officials asking for a £1m-plus bailout, but the Tele understands that councillors want to thoroughly quiz those behind the scenes at the theatre before making any decision — especially in the face of £7m worth of looming local authority cuts.

A source said: “They want money without showing how they are going to run it as a proper business.

“Some really want to give them the money and others want them to appear before councillors for a grilling.

“They can’t get over £1m by simply sending a letter — if the council give them the money it means a cut to the council’s capital expenditure elsewhere.” In a fresh and farcical episode to the Beacon saga, we can also reveal the theatre could face a £150,000 bill for expensive cobbles outside the venue — after allegedly forgetting this work was part of the initial planning application for the facility.

An insider said: “They still need to put £150,000 of cobbles down as they didn’t realise that was something they’d asked for!

“They claimed they never asked for it but it was in their planning application.” Beacon bosses today decided to break their silence on the situation facing them.

Allan Robertson, chairman of the Greenock Arts Guild Ltd, which owns and runs the £10m centre, said: “It is no secret that there has been ongoing concern for many months about the final building costs of the Beacon Arts Centre.

“The funding initially raised to build the Beacon has not been sufficient to cover the final cost and over the past year or so, there has been ongoing discussion to reach an agreed settlement with the construction company.

“This has now been agreed and the Beacon is now seeking financial assistance from the council to assist in meeting the additional costs.

“We are also taking other action regarding the way the building contract was managed on behalf of the Beacon.” Mr Robertson added: “The original building application contained changes to improving the external paving outside the Beacon building.

“We have been aware of this and we will require to fulfil the conditions of the planning application.” The chairman is adamant that there is a strategy in place for the Beacon. He said: “The Beacon has a business plan in place detailing what we intend doing for the next three years.

“However, although we were successful for the first time ever in receiving three-year funding of £600,000 from Creative Scotland, the business plan was based on aspirations of expanding our existing arts programme “We are now in the process of revising the business plan based on the actual amount that we will be receiving from Creative Scotland and other funders, and this will be completed shortly and discussed by the board.” The beleaguered boardroom boss also hinted that there could be a major management shake-up early in the New Year when members of the Arts Guild meet for crunch talks.

He said: “The Greenock Arts Guild board has unanimously agreed to hold a special meeting in January when we will be asking the members of the Arts Guild to agree a new governance structure for the Beacon.” Inverclyde Council chiefs today said it would be ‘inappropriate’ to discuss any potential funding while discussions are still taking place over the entire local authority budget.

A spokesman said: “The Beacon Arts Centre is Inverclyde’s premier visitor attraction, with the highest level of visitors of any other site in the area in its first year of full operation.

“Both the council and Creative Scotland have already shown significant levels of financial support in its development and ongoing operations. While the council is currently examining its future financial position and a further report is required on the Greenock Arts Guild in January, it would be inappropriate to discuss in detail the position of the Beacon and the Arts Guild.”1