Didcot's long-promised arts centre is set to open its doors in autumn 2007.

But the lengthy delays to the project will cost the taxpayer an extra £1m.

The centre's future was thrown into doubt last month, when negotiations with its preferred contractor, Leadbitter, collapsed.

But in a dramatic turn of events, South Oxfordshire District Council announced it would inject more money into the project and was confident a deal with Leadbitter would be signed next month.

The new cash takes the total budget to £7.3 million and construction work, estimated to take 60 weeks in total, should start in July.

The aluminium-clad centre, which will include a multi-purpose auditorium for drama, music and dance, exhibition spaces and a cafe, will form the cultural hub of the town along with a new multi-screen cinema. Once complete the buildings will surround a new town square at the junction of Orchard Street and Station Road.

But the project has a chequered history after being drawn up by SODC's Labour-Liberal Democrat ruling group in 2000.

When the Tories came to power in 2003 they scrapped the plans, insisting they would not spend a penny more than the original £6.4m budget.

But at a special meeting this week, the Tories back-tracked and agreed to spend a further £930,000.

The councillor responsible for the project, Nigel Moor, said: "When we came to power we inherited a scheme that we weren't happy with.

"People will criticise us and say if we had done it three years ago, it would have been cheaper.

"But three years ago we did not have a scheme we could live with."

But the man who headed the project until the 2003 election, Labour district councillor Mike McNulty, said the town had been sold short.

He said the Tories lost £500,000 when they scrapped the original design drawings and had been losing £20,000 per month in inflation costs.

He said the new cost would only bring the budget in line with what it had originally been and added: "The current scheme falls far short of our original design."