FIRSTSITE is set to receive an extra £200,000 from local authorities.

Colchester Council’s cabinet will meet tomorrow and are expected to approve a one-off contribution of £100,000 to match funding being provided by Essex County Council.

The extra £100,000 from Colchester Council is available because the council has spent less than it planned on a number of services and is receiving more additional income than expected.

As of November 10 the council had underspent by £167,000 across its services and received £464,000 extra income from a number of sources..

It means the council has more than £600,000 available for extra projects.

A report, suggesting what Colchester’s cabinet should do with the money, recommends more money for the gallery.

It also suggests the money may have been provisionally promised already to secure Arts Council funding which was confirmed last week.

The report states the money for Firstsite will “support a number of specific projects and help to protect or ensure funding from the Arts Council of £0.8million”.

The Arts Council announced it would give the art gallery £800,000 to spend in 2015/16 last week.

It has also guaranteed to give the gallery another £800,000 next year.

It means the gallery will have again received more than £1million in public funds this year.

Colchester Council has already given Firstsite £127,925 for 2015/16, bringing the total funding from Colchester Council alone to £227,925, subject to cabinet approval.

The controversial gallery has seen a resurgance this year with visitor numbers up following years of controversy and escalating costs.

Another project being recommended for approval is a new grant fund.

The cabinet is expected to agree to put £200,000 in a pot for special projects across Colchester.

Groups and organisations will make bids for money to help the council achieve its aims for Colchester.

And then the public will decide who gets the money.

The idea is to hold public votes to decide who gets what from the new pot.