DERBY Playhouse's former artistic director, Stephen Edwards, is set to dip into his own pocket to try to save the theatre.

He is offering to pay £45,000 to bolster a rescue plan being put forward by the Playhouse board.

In return, he would take the theatre's lease as security until a long-term lender can be found to get the business running.

The city council leases the Playhouse building to the board and the £45,000 would allow the rent to be paid and prevent the company from being liquidated.

The offer is one of two that will be put to creditors at a meeting arranged for December 16.

If they agree to the Playhouse's rescue plan, the board would be given until April 30 to find a long-term lender.

But if the creditors turn it down, they would then have to consider an offer on the table from the city council to buy the theatre's assets.

If the Playhouse's rescue plan is agreed but ultimately fails, the lease would be sold, with creditors getting some of the cash.

The board believes the lease is worth up to £1m and if it is sold, the amount Mr Edwards receives back would be capped at £45,000.

The city council has previously said it would offer £325,000 for the theatre's assets but it has since agreed with administrators Tenon not to comment further.

The authority wants to use the building for performances for its Derby Live festival.

This offer could go ahead only if the company was liquidated, giving the council control of the building.

The Playhouse board would need to find at least £300,000 by April 30 to secure the future of the company.

Mr Edwards said he was trying to buy the board more time.

"I am doing this on behalf of the board to buy it another six months," he said.

"It is what I have wanted to do for about a year."

The board is pinning its hopes on a compensation claim made against the Arts Council to Government ombudsmen.

It believes the Arts Council acted outside its remit in February by using its power to effectively try to liquidate the company at a previous creditors' meeting. The Arts Council denies the claim.

The board has been inviting expressions of interest from people who may want to buy the lease, to judge its value.

Agent Savills has been acting for the board. A report in documents circulated to creditors reveals that, while inviting interest in the building, it was told one organisation had already been offered it, but it did not say by whom.

The document by Savills' director Victor Ktori states: "...I spoke with the relevant acquisition surveyor acting on behalf of a major food retailer who somewhat surprisingly told me that the site had already been offered to them."

Creditors will meet at the Novotel, Bostock Lane, Long Eaton at 1.30pm on December 16.