DORSET'S pioneering mobile cinema could be saved from the axe if councillors back a bid by the Purbeck Film Festival to run it.

Plans to launch a 100-seat mobile cinema for Dorset next year were almost scuppered when Dorset County Council decided the project was not a priority and pulled the plug on a £75,000 funding promise.

The decision was made in the summer after the council changed hands from Lib Dem to Conservative in local elections. But a bid by the Purbeck Film Festival to take control now looks set to get the go ahead.

The Arts Council has granted £398,374 to pay for the cinema, but the council will have to approve the transfer of the money to the film festival before it can be spent.

Council officers met with representatives of the Arts Council and the Purbeck Film Festival earlier this month to discuss the project.

In a report to councillors, head of special projects John Tweed said: "The Purbeck Film Festival has already been awarded two Lottery grants and therefore has a track record in the management of grant assistance from the Arts Lottery Fund."

Mr Tweed is recommending that the council's cabinet should approve the transfer of funds when it meets tomorrow. His report reveals that the Arts Council is prepared to make a further £75,000 available to get the project off the ground.

Cinema consultant Phil Walkely, who runs the Purbeck Film Festival, said: "The Arts Council is very enthusiastic about the cinema project and thinks it will provide an example other parts of the country can follow."

The cinema will travel into parts of Dorset without easy access to films. These will include Portland, Bridport, Maiden Newton and Beaminster. Mr Walkely said it is hoped the mobile cinema will be tested next August and launched in the autumn.

The Purbeck Film Festival will be recruiting people to help run the cinema in each area, and up to ten percent of profits could be ploughed back into the community.