Campaigners trying to save the Hippodrome in Brighton have released a video and started a new petition.
They hope the petition will trigger a debate at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council on Thursday 26 March.
To see or sign the petition, organised by Our Brighton Hippodrome, click here.
The release of the video by Save Our Hippodrome can be seen here. It has been timed to coincide with the new petition which urges the council to enforce a duty of care for the Hippodrome.
Campaigners say that it hasn’t been properly maintained and that little or no enforcement action over the past eight years has allowed the venue to deteriorate. Yet the Hippodrome is a grade II* listed building.
The petition organisers pointed out that the latest petition comes after more than 14,000 people signed an earlier one asking that the Hippodrome be restored as a live venue.
A further 12,000 emailed the council directly which, the campaigners said, was the largest number of emails received about a single subject.
The council granted planning permission for the building to be turned into an eight-screen cinema with shops and restaurants as part of the scheme.
The cinema chain Vue, which intended to operate the multiplex, has since pulled out.
The latest petition says: “Now that cinema conversion of the Hippodrome has apparently been abandoned, we call upon Brighton and Hove City Council to support plans for theatre restoration and to use all available powers and its own best endeavours to facilitate such plans.
“A new owner is in the process of taking over the Brighton Hippodrome site.
“Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) gave planning approval to convert the Hippodrome into an eight-screen cinema, restaurants and retail units.
“We are told that the scheme is not going ahead. Vue Entertainment, the company that was to have operated the cinema, is no longer involved.
“This means that the magnificent grade II* listed theatre, designed by Frank Matcham – the finest unused theatre in the country – will be left with no plan to save it other than the one being developed by Our Brighton Hippodrome (OBH).
“The BHCC City Plan names the Hippodrome as one of the key venues in the city’s cultural infrastructure that should be protected and enhanced ‘for their existing use or potential for such use’.
“It is long past the time when BHCC should issue an urgent repairs notice to protect one of the most important buildings in the city from further deterioration.
“Meanwhile, the city council should give its full support to enable OBH to complete its plans for restoration of the Hippodrome for live performance and as a major community asset.
“With BHCC’s backing, OBH will be more able to raise the funding for restoration and will be in a stronger position to negotiate with the site’s owner.
“A restored Hippodrome would add considerably to the local economy, serving the residents of the city and the county and attracting valuable tourist spending with shows that cannot currently be presented in Sussex.
“A petition on 38 Degrees in favour of theatre restoration has achieved over 11,500 signatures.
“BHCC should acknowledge the massive public support for revival of the iconic Hippodrome for live performance and the preference of most of the council’s own elected members for theatre restoration, if possible.
“It is possible. The community can make it happen and the council should help achieve this aspiration.”
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