Appleby Town Council is set to spend around £200,000 on repair work to the historic Moot Hall.
Councillors have agreed to release £30,000 from a building reserves fund towards the work and are seeking grant funding of up to £160,000 from Historic England with a second application to another charity to cover additional costs.
Preliminary work is under way to establish a full costing for the repair of the roof, water systems and external rendering.
The council has been assured that the external appearance of the town centre building will not be changed at this stage.
At a meeting of the town council last month Kate Kendall, of Historic England, discussed the plans in a part of the meeting from which the public and press were excluded.
The council has since released a statement confirming that a programme of work is planned in a partnership with Eden District Council as a project within the Heritage Action Zone.
Subject to a successful grant application from Appleby Town Council, Historic England would provide 80 per cent of a grant up to £200,000(£160,000) with Appleby Town Council covering the further 20 per cent (£40,000) using £30,000 from its building reserves and through an application to another charity for a further contribution.
Mayor Gareth Hayes said: “This is a tremendous step forward in our accelerating our project to preserve one of the most precious and important heritage assets of Appleby, and indeed, of the country.”
