The planning application to restore the Hippodrome should be called in by the government, the owners say, because Brighton and Hove City Council is taking too long to deal with the proposals.
Matsim, the local family-owned business that bought the Hippodrome in 2020, submitted its plans to the council in July 2022 after carrying out emergency repairs.
The Lambor family, who run Matsim, have spent millions of pounds of their own money to save the dilapidated grade II* listed building but need planning permission to do any further work.
Last week a petition headed Save Brighton Hippodrome was started on Change.org urging the council to approve the planning application.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, added her voice to the growing calls for progress with the plans and Independent councillor Peter Atkinson warned about the dangers of further delay.
Matsim believes that asking the government to call in the plans could prove quicker than waiting for the council to reach a decision.
The company said: “For nearly three and a half years we have been trying to save the Hippodrome and bring it back into use, having spent millions on dry rot and asbestos removal, the construction of a new roof over the auditorium and repair and redecoration of the ornate ceilings.
“From the first day of ownership we have involved and discussed our plans with the planning department and yet we seem to be no further forward with obtaining a consent.
“Without a consent we are unable to work on saving the building and, having lost last summer, it now appears that we will lose this summer through prevarication and obstruction.
“The local authority has continually ‘discovered’ additional reasons for problems with the scheme and we feel that the time has come to decide whether this building should be brought back into use for performance or whether an alternative strategy should be sought.”
The petition said: “We call upon Brighton council to approve the current planning application from local family-run company Matsim Properties, who are the present owners, to be able to continue with the amazing restoration of the Brighton Hippodrome.
“Repair work has already taken place to protect the main auditorium and listed frontage. Some sensitive restoration has also been undertaken as shown to the public last year.
“Full refurbishment should be ongoing as a matter of urgency. However, Matsim have been subjected to constant obstacles in the planning process which can only lead to further deterioration of the building and inevitably endangering the return of this iconic and historical building to its rightful place as an entertainment venue.”
Caroline Lucas MP said: “It seems to be taking a long time to decide this planning application.”
The theatre had already been standing vacant and derelict for some years by the time she won her seat in 2010.
And she said that Matsim was the first owner for decades to have spent any money – millions of pounds of their own money – to start to restore the building.
While she would love to see it become a lyric theatre, that was not the proposal on the table, although Matsim proposes reviving the building as a venue for live entertainment.
Ms Lucas said: “There’s a real risk of making the best the enemy of the good. I would hate to see, in 10 years’ time, that building still standing empty.”
The MP added that she was concerned about the danger of asking Matsim to jump through too many hoops.
A public comment left on the planning application on the council website at the weekend said: “This situation has dragged on for far too long and the actual fabric of the building is now at serious risk of total degradation.
“Please get this to a Planning Committee as soon as possible to allow the building to be saved and restored.”
And yesterday Independent councillor Peter Atkinson said that Matsim had saved the roof from collapse but it was battling both damp and dry rot.
The council’s delay was putting the building at risk, as “the planning application remains stalled … in the council’s planning department”.
Councillor Atkinson said: “Various outside agencies such as the Theatres Trust and Historic England are being repeatedly asked for their views when they neither own the building nor have any practical involvement in its restoration.
“While I accept that these organisations have a right to submit their views on the planning application, they should not be allowed to dominate the process in the way they apparently have.
“This is a local iconic building and local people should have the final say on the application via the councillors who sit on the Planning Committee – and this application should now be heard as a matter of public urgency.
“This delay is having a potentially catastrophic impact on the condition of the building due to dampness and dry rot.
“And there is a real danger that the procrastination within the planning department risks the very fabric of the Hippodrome becoming beyond repair.
“This would be a disaster, both for a much loved and fondly remembered local landmark and also for the many residents who could have enjoyed the many events that the Hippodrome would have offered – at a time when music venues are closing at an alarming rate.”
To sign the petition, click here.
Glad our only decent MP is getting involved now
The council seems determined to sabotage this famous Brighton asset with extraordinary arguments such as that an evening show could cause traffic tailbacks on the A 27 !!
Why don’t they close all restaurants Cinemas and venues then and keep the A27 empty !
Insane ! Who would drive into the Lanes anyway
( excepting blue badge holders who I know from personal experience have no problem parking in town in the evening )
Something dodgy is going on reminiscent of the council ordering the removal of the Big Wheel under pressure from the BA i360 white elephant fiasco
I smell corruption from rival entertainment venues and corrupt councillors
I am afraid Brighton council has a long history of failure when it comes to our heritage. Most councilors are too busy looking to political career enhancing bandwagons to do the job they were elected to.
BHCC previously granted permission for it to become a cinema/restaurant in 7 months, well under half the time that this application has taken. That prior cinema application was to butcher the heritage asset with the same consultees that have been consulted this time around. This application is for the venue to return as a whole performance venue. It has become clear that the Cinema/Restaurant as approved wouldn’t be seen as a threat to the cultural thiefdom BHCC/The Dome sits over. This is seen as a threat and god forbid someone comes up with a market offering with shows people want to visit. Also how did they spend almost £40m on creating nothing new other than a claustrophobic cafe that seats about 30? Guess who wasn’t consulted on that one? Theatres Trust!
One other interesting point, the CIC proponents pushing the Lyric Theatre scheme are some of the same guys behind the i360. A similar amount of public money they are seeking on their theoretical Lyric theatre scheme.
Caroline should have asked for the tracking to prove that articulated pan- technicans can access the rear car park as they tout. They can not without demolishing heritage buildings, which means their whole scheme and objection is based on a lie.
local councils are useless, totally inept in almost everything they do. Too much politics for which everyone is bored, just use your common sense and get on with things.
Brighton Council taking too long ?
Who’d have thought it !
You know it’s common sense when Cllr Atkinson is talking. Labour are totally dragging their heels over this and they should be ashamed. When invited to the open days they didn’t come because it was deemed too political. Cllr Sankey needs to get a grip and get this planning permission resolved. If this fails it will be on her watch.
A family with a lot of money, and the impetus to show up a Labour council! Definitely fishy. Yes get the plans called in and let common sense prevail.
I read the Theatre Trust’s concerns and they should be taken seriously – essentially the current plans will permanently destroy the Theatre and make it impossible to attract large acts – for example, they are removing much of the front of house space so there won’t be any space for a bar, etc. worse than that however is that they will remove the space for acts to load / unload – essentially making the venue unviable for anything other than the smallest of acts. I can only assume they want it to fail to subsequently turn it into a hotel…
Theatres Trust are a Quango with the CEO on £80,000 of our money. It’s in their interest to drag this out as long as possible, (even though they have NO ownership of the building). Anyone that knows the building knows it could not do the big stage shows it does not have the capacity of venues like Southampton’s Mayflower, (5000 capacity), so with a capacity of around 1500 – 1700 tickets for major shows would cost hundreds of pounds and prohibitively expensive. The Hipp has had a hugely varied history it has been an ice rink, circus, bingo hall and tv studio as well as a theatre its survival is its adaptability. The Theatres Trust entrenchment could mean this exciting new chapter in its history could fail and that is quite simply madness.
You correctly point out that it previously failed as a theatre venue. Do you think removing the loading areas and significantly limiting who can perform there is going to make it more successful this time round?
The mayflower has a capacity of 2300 and the Marlow in Canterbury has only 1300 and gets all the large shows and is the price as the mayflower the stage and fly tower size are more important than the seating capacity
The archaeological report on the rear car park shows that the performance get in has always successfully been from the front of the building off Middle Street. The Theatres Trust supporting creating a new lorry access off Ship St shows they don’t do their basic research before commenting! You cannot get any truck in to Ship St side and for them to support putting all your eggs in that basket and building over the Elephant yard that has serviced the building off Middle St would be the truly devastating blow to the building from a performance perspective. Theatres Trust is hoping that objecting for long enough will see the building in to their ownership through the CIC and public grant funding. They own 2 other theatre freeholds they rent out and want more! The truths coming out.
Please get this approved asap so the work can get under way.
If theatres trust are so concerned, let them contribute the money to make it what they want, otherwise keep out of it. If this plan fails it will mean demolition and another blighted area of Brighton. Perhaps the Matsim family could offer to run Brighton, since the council and others seem intent on destroying it.
Labour are the anti-heritage party so far. An absolute disgrace to our city.