A town council has made a saving of over 50pc in 18 months since handing over control of a prominent Norfolk Corn Hall to a new trust, a meeting heard.

Diss town clerk Deborah Sarson revealed the overall running cost to the council of the Corn Hall had fallen from �60,000 a year to �23,000 a year since the Corn Hall Trust took over in January 2010.

The figures were revealed at a council meeting last week when councillors agreed to renew the council's annual �8,013 grant to the Trust and to prepare a revised bid for over �1m of Heritage Lottery funding for improvements to the hall.

Ms Sarson said the community-run trust said all but one of the team running the Corn Hall was a volunteer, which helped to reduce costs although the council still paid for maintenance and staffing costs, which have also fallen from �23,000 to �7,000 a year since the trust took over.

She added: 'I would like to take this opportunity to thank the trust for the fantastic job they have done in turning this building around and making it an icon for South Norfolk.'

The grant money is included in the overall cost to the council and covers insurance for the listed building.

The council has already failed with one lottery bid, but this time is planning to re-submit an application which will tell the history of the hall in the context of other historic buildings in the St Nicholas Street area of the town.

To this end, the town council and trust are working with the Diss Museum to promote the area's history and try and encourage more visitors to a part of the town centre which is not so well known.

If the bid is successful, the money would be spent on providing better bar and catering facilities at the hall including a new caf�, while facilities for performers would also be improved with a separate stage from the main performance area.

The hall has already received a �50,000 prize awarded at the EDP Pride in Norfolk Awards by Norfolk County Council last year.

The number of people visiting the Corn Hall has increased from 3,000 when the town council last ran the venue to the current figure of 15,000.

The councillors also agreed to a request from the trust to install additional acoustic panels in the Assembly Hall.