Harrogate has been challenged by a civic leader to follow the public example of a spa rival and raise money to save one of its architectural gems.

The town faces an £8.5m repair bill for its crumbling Royal Hall Theatre, just as Buxton, in Derbyshire, plans to reopen its Opera House after a £2m-plus restoration scheme.

Lilian Mina, chairman of Harrogate's Civic Society, has joined a working group to try to raise funds for the Royal Hall, in Ripon Road, where the upper circle was closed last year because of fears for the public's safety.

Buxton's Opera House and the Royal Hall were designed by theatre specialist Frank Matcham and have similarities.

Mrs Mina said the full commitment of Buxton's 21,000 population had helped to ensure their theatre was refurbished.

She said that Harrogate, which has a population of more than 70,000, will have to show a similar degree of commitment for maintaining the town's wonderful heritage, if the Royal Hall was to be saved.

"It is already obvious that the sort of funding needed to save the Royal Hall will require a major Lottery grant, almost certainly from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"At the same time, a very large amount - up to £2m - will have to be raised locally to provide the required matching funding. This is going to be a massive undertaking," said Mrs Mina.

She accepts the situation in Harrogate is different to Buxton, where the Opera House has a "cultural monopoly". In Harrogate, there are two other major venues, the Conference Centre and Harrogate Theatre, to compete with the Royal Hall.

But because of the Royal Hall's structural problems Harrogate was looking for more than three times the amount of funding needed at Buxton, said Mrs Mina.

She has welcomed the decision to set up the working group in a bid to restore the Royal Hall