DERBY CITYSCAPE

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The city council admitted that it is almost £5m short of the £12.5m needed for the proposed Quad building. Explaining where the shortfall in funding has come from, Council leader Maurice Burgess said, "I think there has been some misconception between the East Midlands Development Agency and the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership as to how much money was going to come in."

It was later revealed that the shortfall was closer to £10m. Jonathan Guest, development and cultural services director, said the only funding the council could guarantee was £2.5m from the Arts Council.

He added, "If it can't be built in its present form, in my opinion there's a new opportunity for it in another building. We've looked very clearly at the facility aspects and we've been very aware of the feelings of many people. They have felt that having a building that would cut off the Market Place wouldn't be what many people in the city wanted. We haven't closed the door to the development but, at this point, we have to look very carefully."

Deputy leader Councillor Philip Hickson said, "We've always been very clear that, whatever happens, the Quad should not become a financial burden on the taxpayers of the city and, although the scheme is an exciting one, we don't want something that's going to become an expensive drain on council tax. The current funding as it appears to us casts enormous doubt if the project will happen."

Councillor Burgess said the consortium had been expecting separate amounts of money from EMDA and the DDEP, which members believed were independent funding sources. However, EMDA funds the DDEP, so only one amount will be forthcoming.

He said, "As the DDEP is set up by EMDA there does appear to have been some possible misunderstanding by the financial advisers for the consortium, who had assumed that the DDEP and EMDA were bringing in separate money, and what EMDA has pointed out is that DDEP is the same money."

Peter Mount, development director for the Quad Consortium, said, "We've not managed to raise the funding level so far as the full scheme. We're not £5m down, but we're down enough to look at other options, one of which is to put the centre in the Market Place but on a smaller scale."

The latest option is to use St Helen's House. St Helen's House Trust is a charitable trust set up to restore and run St Helen's House to provide educational, vocational, cultural and recreational facilities. The trust plans to take over responsibility for St Helen's House from Derby City Council.

Trustee of St Helen's House Peter Steer said, "We've not had an opportunity to speak to any of the people involved in Quad, but we're trying to do that at the moment. We do know that Q Arts work fits in with our basic philosophy of education and leisure use but we don't know if we would have room for Metro. We're in the very early stages but we would be delighted to discuss this."

Other possible locations include the Roundhouse in Pride Park and the Metro Cinema in Green Lane. Mr Burgess said, "These three buildings will form part of the options appraisal and it could be that one of our listed buildings could be the new arts centre." But if these buildings are now being considered, their merits must have existed before the Quad plan in the Market Place was proposed.

The city council wants to build it in front of the Market Hall, on the site of the Sir Peter Hilton Memorial Garden and the Korean War veterans' memorial, in Corporation Street. The garden, dedicated to the former Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, cost the council £500,000 to build in 1996 and would possibly be relocated in the Market Place.

War veterans who fought for years to get a memorial in Derby have vowed to fight on to ensure it is not pushed aside by the planned Quad arts centre. The consortium behind Quad, Derby's proposed £9.8m visual arts centre, wants to build the centre in Corporation Street, in front of the Market Hall. It would mean a sensory garden, built in memory of the late Sir Peter Hilton, and the Korean War Memorial, would have to be moved. Both Lady Winifred Hilton, Sir Peter's widow, and Derby and Burton branch of the British Korean Veterans' Association opposed the move.

The veterans have now come out and said they are prepared "to do battle" with the council over the future of the memorial gardens. They want the gardens and the memorial to remain together. Keith Challis, chairman of the association, said, "We shall fight. We're war veterans and we know how to fight. To destroy the garden would be a betrayal of trust and an insult to every serviceman and servicewoman that had served their country that came from Derbyshire and East Staffordshire."

Mr Challis said his group was due to meet soon with council officials and would put its concerns across. He added, "Our aim has always been to keep the memorial and the gardens together in one place. We'll listen to what the council has to say but we'll be looking for some sort of guarantee before this is allowed to go ahead." War hero Sir Peter Hilton was the former Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire and he was president of Derbyshire Royal British Legion when he died in 1995.

Plans to build it in the Market Place were shelved following funding problems and criticism from Derby residents about the proposed design and location. In a poll on the Evening Telegraph's website 84.4% of visitors voted in favour of the new Quad proposals. Councillor Paul West, city council cabinet member for leisure and cultural services, said, "It's an endorsement that we're on the right track and that people want the visual arts centre."

But, in the words which appear on the war memorial, he said, "Nobody will be forgotten". He added, "We're bending over backwards to work with various groups so we can come to a satisfactory solution. We certainly don't want to start splitting up the garden from the memorial, we want to keep them together. There are various site options being considered."