Use theatre or lose it, warns council

Residents have been told by Newark and Sherwood District Council to use the town’s Palace Theatre, or lose it.

The council’s cabinet has agreed cost-saving measures designed to cut the subsidy paid to the theatre.

The changes will see the theatre open five days a week, the cost of hiring it will rise, film screenings will cease and a ticket handling-charge of £1 will be introduced.

The measures will help reduce the annual subsidy of £387,000 by around £100,000.

District councillor Mr Roger Jackson said: “At the end of the day all we want to do is keep the theatre open and viable but at an acceptable level of cost to this council and the general public.

“At the moment every ticket sold is costing the ratepayer in Newark and Sherwood £9.”

Mr Roger Blaney said: “I have to say to those who love the theatre in Newark use it or lose it because it is up to the people of Newark and the wider district to support it.

“People in other parts of the district who don’t use the theatre will be asking why they have to subsidise this asset in Newark and it is a very difficult question to answer.

“We are no longer in the entitlement society where there is an obligation on the local authority to provide anything and everything the local people want.

“This is a priority to many residents in Newark but it is not, I have to say, a priority to many residents in other areas of Newark and Sherwood.

“If Newark wants to keep its theatre, which obviously it does and I hope it can, then we need to increase the use and reduce the subsidy to justify to all the residents why we are continuing to put money into it.”

Mr Tony Roberts said the theatre was an important facility for the district.

But he said: “We have to realise and recognise that the pit of money is not bottomless and we have to work within really tight guidelines.”

At a full council meeting on Tuesday councillor Mr Julian Hamilton said the theatre was “bankrupt financially, and bankrupt of ideas.” He asked how the council intended to introduce a wider range of good quality shows and encourage more groups to use the theatre.

Mr Jackson said the council was doing all it could to encourage more users while reducing the theatre’s reliance on council subsidies.