FARNHAM Maltings has lost its bid for £2 million of lottery cash despite a rigorous overhaul of its constitution, the appointment of a specialist management board, and becoming the town's premier arts venue.

The bid, which was made in January, to South East Arts, was part of a £3.95 million improvement package that would have provided new facilities, repaired structural decay, and increased arts and community provision.

Waverley Borough Council had pledged a lump sum of £1 million - alongside £80,000 year-on-year support - and Farnham Town Council had promised £100,000. However, these contributions were only to be made should the venue be successful with its lottery bid.

In a statement to The Herald, Maltings' chief executive Joanna Ridout remained optimistic. She said: "It's a blow, but we are still committed to development.

"It just means that the project will take longer and will have to be planned on a different timescale.

"We already have unprecedented support from Farnham Town Council, Waverley Borough and South East Arts and will build on that to create a venue fit for the 21st century."

Chairman of the the Maltings Council Tony Lennard agreed that the refusal was a shock, but drew attention to the fact that the standard council funding would increase gradually anyway because of the Maltings' standing as the premier arts venue in Farnham.

However, he said that additional funding of any kind at this moment would not be forthcoming because there was now not a "programme tied to the development ".

"The situation is, when the new council at the Maltings was formed in May last year, we formed the opinion that the lottery bid offered us the best immediate opportunity to get the sort of money we needed to do a whole programme.

"Therefore, it was not worth considering or entering into any negotiations with anybody else until we had exhausted that opportunity.

"That's where all-out efforts have been for the last 12 months. OK, it hasn't worked out, so we now have to revert to another plan."

Mr Lennard maintained that the council had "plenty of other plans" and "a number of ways" it could proceed to get the refurbishment programme moving again, but declined to discuss what these might be.

He said he did not know why The Arts Council of England Lottery Department, the body which assesses the recommendation made by South East Arts, refused them the money, but maintained that "it was a very good bid".

"Some people said it was never better than a 50 per cent shot. I would like to think it was better than that.

"There was no question that we were right at the top of South East Arts' list.

"They supported the proposal as strongly as they could."

The chairman believes the Maltings still has a good chance with the regional arts body, claiming that "they told us informally that they still want to support the Maltings and to hear what our next programme is."

He added: "The Maltings is going to stay alive, there's no question about that. The issue is purely how we proceed with the refurbishment that we want to do."

Waverley council refused to comment on what sort of funding package would now be offered to the Maltings.

A spokesperson said that until a formal letter conveying news of the failed bid was received, a statement could not be issued.

Meanwhile, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford has recently received a grant of £16,000, shortly to increase to £25,000, towards the cost of replacing the seats and carpets in its auditorium.

Refurbishment will not begin until the full £69,000 needed for the job has been raised.

The theatre is currently approaching various trusts in an attempt to generate this money.

In a letter to The Herald this week, the chairman of the New Farnham Repertory Company, Ian Mullins, expressed his sympathy for the Maltings.

He said that the lottery decision was "yet another blow to the cultural life of our community". Wanting the "bitterness and hostility" that has surrounded the decision to cut funding for the Redgrave Theatre to come to an end, Mr Mullins said: "We at the NFRC know only too well from bitter experience what it is like to have one's hard work and aspirations cruelly dashed and disregarded, and our sympathy goes out to our friends and colleagues at Farnham Maltings at this time."