Work on the �6m centre should have been under way

Work on the theatre and conference centre was due to start in the summer, but money problems and local opposition have blighted the project.

The first contractors commissioned to build the 400-seat venue pulled out at the last minute, and the second tenderer went into receivership.

The delays left the project stranded, while the cost of the building at the Wrexham Library and Arts Centre hase continued to rise.

We want to hear the debate but we have got a problem over the funding gap which is significant Councillor Bob Dutton

Some members of Wrexham Council have called for the local authority to drop the scheme because of concerns over funding.

The council has pledged to give the theatre's board of trustees �120,000 from existing budgets for the next three years.

But councillor Bob Dutton said funding the theatre would place extra strain on the obligations the local authority has to meet.

"I am not against the theatre, I am just concerned about how we're going to fund it," he said.

Total rethink

Mr Dutton is one of 16 councillors who have put forward a motion for the council to drop the plan.

"We want to hear the debate but we have got a problem over the funding gap which is significant.

"My concern is that projects of this nature add to the burden that the council taxpayers have to bear."

At the meeting councillors will have, for the first time, an opportunity to vote on whether to abandon the plans altogether.

Alternatively, they could decide to re-tender the project or totally rethink it.

But if a new contractor is not found within nine months, they could lose more than �4.5m of lottery grant.

If the plan is scrapped, there would be bitter disappointment for those who have worked for seven years try to bring a theatre to the town centre.

The centre was due to be completed by 2005 and the council has said it remains committed to the scheme.

A full council meeting will be held on Monday at 1830 GMT.