Suffolk Coastal’s Cabinet will look again at its decision to
attract proposals for the future use of Felixstowe's Spa Theatre
from local groups or leisure and entertainment companies from
across the country.
Following last week’s (January 12) meeting of Suffolk Coastal’s
Scrutiny Committee which asked Cabinet to look again at its
decision on the Spa’s future and called for the building to remain
open until January 2013, Cabinet will discuss what can be done at
its February 7 meeting.
“We are spending around £250,000 a year on the Spa, and on top
of that it needs at least £3 million to be spent in the next few
years to bring the building up to modern standards. At a time when
we have a £2.8 million budget gap, the view of Cabinet was that we
really cannot afford to make that type of investment or long-term
commitment,” said Cllr Geoff Holdcroft, Cabinet Member for Economic
Development and Leisure.
“At last week’s meeting it was spelt out by external theatre
experts that the Spa will not begin to attract audiences without
massive investment in the building and a doubling of its subsidy
from Council Taxpayers. That is why we want to find a long-term
future for the Spa, whether that be with a new local trust running
the building or outside established companies with new
proposals.
“Cabinet will of course listen to what Scrutiny said but much of
it centred on the issue of timing, on when our contract with its
managers should end, a decision that may not even be in our hands,
as the meeting heard Openwide Coastal confirm it will not run the
theatre if it was losing it money. My view is that we have to take
decisions that will deliver a long-term future for the Spa and I
hope that in February we can confirm the way forward,” added Cllr
Holdcroft.
Following the original Cabinet decision in December, the current
managers of the theatre, Openwide Coastal, had said it would run
the Spa and its full programme up to the end of June as it would
not be economically viable to run it until October as
requested.
Two years ago the Council called in consultants to look at the
options for the Spa, taking account of the needs of the local
community and the requirement for it to be run in a cost-effective
way. The full consultants’ report and the other papers presented to
Cabinet in December were made public yesterday (Wednesday) on the
Council’s website – visit
www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk/yourcouncil/meetings/exempt/
Their report concluded that if no major investments are made the
Spa will quickly become unfit for purpose and that the building is
already out of date. Audiences at the Spa have been falling to a
degree that each ticket was being subsidised by the Council by well
over £7.
“All our work on the future of the Spa has been put on hold
since before Christmas because of the demand to have the Cabinet
decision reviewed. We can still not get on with talking with local
community groups that have used the Spa to see what help we can
give them in the future to find alternative venues if that is
necessary.
“We have also not been able to proceed with our investigations
into whether a theatre trust like that which has taken over the
running of Lowestoft’s Marina Theatre is a way forward or been able
to offer help to those who may be interesting in pursing such an
option. At the same time, we have had to hold fire on calling for
ideas for the Spa from national companies who have the financial
clout to put them into effect.
“My original hope was that in June we would have a firmer idea
of what the Spa’s future would be, when we would have had the
chance to see and consider both the strength of local proposals and
also what leisure or entertainment proposals and potential
investment outside companies and organisations had come up with. I
hope we can announce a new timetable that will still mean that this
summer the way forward for the Spa will be much clearer,” added
Cllr
Holdcroft.