THE future of a sports hall project at Dyson Perrins CE High School rests on an application for National Lottery funding.

The estimated cost of the project, to link the school's gymnasium and sports hall and update both buildings, is £800,000.

The new facility would be available to both the school and the Malvern community.

Malvern Hills District Council confirmed it would give £334,000 towards the refurbishment at a meeting on Tuesday. Worcestershire County Council will part-fund the project but it intends to apply for additional money from the lottery's New Opportunities Fund.

The amounts needed will not be known until a contractor is hired to do the work, but a county council spokesman said yesterday that the project would not go ahead without National Lottery cash.

In January 1998, a £1.8m plan for new sports facilities at The Chase school, supported by £784,000 from Malvern Hills District Council, was refused National Lottery funding.

The scheme was just one of the attempts to provide Malvern with new sports facilities using money from the Malvern Millions.

The money came from the sale of council houses to Elgar Housing Association and sports facilities were subsequently identified as a key priority by the community.

Council leader Tom Wells said the Dyson Perrins scheme was very different from the Chase project, as it was a renovation, not a new building. He also said the result of the lottery bid should not be prejudged.

"The £334,000 is firmly on the table from the district council. If the county council cannot provide matching funding, that will be a real disappointment."

He added that Malvern Hills District Council would work with the school to keep the scheme alive if the county could not provide its share.

"We don't want to make false promises. It is for the county council to sort out its part of the funding," he said.

"It's their sports hall. If they can't find the money out of national funds they may have to look at their own capital reserves."

Dyson Perrins ward councillor Serena Croad welcomed MHDC's decision, having requested a statement of support at full council last month.

Coun Croad added that the additional funding was needed to provide staff to manage the hall, so the local community could use it out of school hours.