Proposals to replace the bandstand on The Lawn, Dawlish, with a multi-purpose, all-weather, year-round facility are a step closer to reality after plans were approved to seek cash to explore the possibilities.
Dawlish Community Trust, which promotes regeneration in the area, successfully lobbied the town council to consider the issue after notifying the authority of the January 2009 deadline for funding applications to the Sea Change programme.
The council agreed at its latest meeting to apply for funds from the programme to start a feasibility study.
Trust chairman Bob Vickery told the Gazette that the current building was not popular with locals and that the new structure would go beyond the traditional image of a Victorian bandstand with art, music and performance at its centre.
He said: 'The January deadline is absolutely crucial if the town council wants to progress the idea further. We have to research the concept, present it to the Sea Change programme, and then return to them with a full bid for any money later in autumn 2009.
'The feasibility study would be a serious piece of work. The town should be ambitious enough to have something architecturally unique. Sea Change itself states that the criteria for design has to be of the highest standard. We have reviewed other funding sources and this seems to be the best opportunity for Dawlish.'
The trust has said it has consulted a local architectural practice which has suggested that a proper investigation could be conducted for a fee of approximately £30,000.
To initiate the research would require Dawlish, Teignbridge or Devon County Council to match the Sea Change grant of £15,000.