FINAL approval to restore Swanage's Victorian Bandstand could be given by councillors this month.

Swanage Town Council (STC) members are set to rule on the final report of the £160,000 rescue project at their next meeting.

The Friends of Swanage Bandstand (FOSB), established by Alan Houghton, have raised more than £80,000 towards the costs, with the town council bankrolling the remainder.

STC town clerk Martin Ayres said: "Alan and the FOSB have done a tremendous job in raising funds to supplement to town council's agreed contribution of £50,000.

"The council is fully committed to seeing the project delivered and if final approval is given on March 25 it is hoped the work will get underway later in the spring."

A decision on the award of contracts has been delayed, the town council says, due to the original tender submissions for the work and surrounds being over budget.

This led to a revised specification going out to tender, the results of which will be reported to the town council during the meeting.

Mr Houghton said: "I am very pleased to know that the town council will soon be in a position to give the project a final thumbs up.

"The people of Swanage have done a fantastic job in donating such a large sum of money to this project, but we still can’t be certain that we have all the funds that we need, so please don’t stop the donations coming in."

In 2017 town councillors first announced the bandstand may have to be filled in if no proposals for the site were forthcoming.

The roof of the bandstand was declared structurally unsound during refurbishment works in 2012, which had been taking place to address serious storm damage it had previously sustained.

However, news the bandstand was living on borrowed time caused a stir locally – and after more than 200 townsfolk packed a crisis meeting, Mr Houghton founded the FOSB.