Crisis puts an end to plans for £4m art gallery

Plans to build 'The Paddock', a £4m art gallery in Sherborne, Dorset, have had to be abandoned. Dorset Council approved the project last year, but the pandemic crisis has meant that "assumptions about funding and operation that were central to the Paddock business plan can no longer be relied upon". The project would have included a cafe and become home to the town's tourist information centre, but its benefactor has judged that it can no longer proceed as planned. Sherborne Arts Trust hopes ambitions for a gallery can still be realised, abeit at a more modest scale.