Community groups encouraged to share ideas for future of the Clair Hall with Mid Sussex District Council

The theatre, in Haywards Heath, closed in March 2020 and went on to be used as a Covid-19 vaccination centre, with the NHS having a licence to use the venue until February 2024.

In the meantime, the council and members of the community have been exploring ideas for the use of the site, ranging from refurbishment to demolition and redevelopment.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (September 12), leader Robert Eggleston said that, while the council would prefer to see a mixed use development on the site, ideas from the community would be given ‘due and proper consideration’.

He added: “We’re trying to do the right thing by everyone.

“We’ve taken a lot of professional advice – our partners are extremely experienced in this field and they have come up with a set of recommendations and proposals for us to consider and we’ve started a work of consultation on their work.

“But we are mindful that there are others in the community who have a different view on a way forward and we want to give anyone who wants to put forward a community proposal the appropriate space and time to enable us to consider it and test their work.

“We intend to do that in an open and honest way.

“We haven’t closed our minds to anything. We have a preferred route that we like but we haven’t closed our minds.

“We will give a community bid due and proper consideration – but it has to be something that is viable and stands up to rigorous assessment.”

The cabinet put a recommendation to the next meeting of the full council that officers should request and assess the viability of any community proposals, presenting them to both the cabinet and an executive steering group for consideration.

There was also a recommendation to wait until this was done before looking for a development partner or cultural operator for the project.