Theatre plans 'don't add up'

Adam Cunard said the financial details behind the ambitious plans for a high-class venue did not add up.

The scheme has been put forward by consultants working for developer St Modwen Properties as the company puts together a leisure attraction on the site of the current Hotham Arts Centre.

But Mr Cunard told Tuesday's meeting of Bognor Regis Civic Society that the thinking behind the idea of a 500-seat main auditorium and three smaller attractions was wrong.

It would be impossible to mix films and live entertainment in the larger area in the way proposed by the consultants, Locum.

He feared the stage shows would be frozen out by the need to generate the income produced by blockbuster films to keep the centre afloat without any subsidy from Arun District Council.

'The need to show first run films in the main screen would cut down on the amount of live entertainment,' he explained.

'A first run film has to be shown all the time. It can't be taken off for some days. The '˜take' from such a film is 40 per cent of the box office, whereas Locum says it is 70 per cent.

'Locum says things are on a knife-edge for the new centre and will take good management as it is. If you take these things into account, it would be difficult to run if not impossible.'

He also cast doubt on the amount of sponsorship which Locum estimated could be raised. The sum was put at 25,000 a year from advertisements on ticket backs and backing for shows.

But he stated: 'That's not going to happen. It has taken us a year since we opened to get to the stage where our next panto is being sponsored and even that's not in hard cash.

'Sponsorship should be the icing on the cake for the management to put towards enhancing productions. It should not be an integral part of the running of the venue.'

Mr Cunard also doubted whether the local amateur societies could afford to pay the amount which Locum stated should be charged.

'It has been shown that multi-use venues do not work,' he added.

'They are jack of all trades and the master of none.'

Mr Cunard said the trustees of the centre's present operator, Arun Arts, had yet to be discuss if they should consider putting in a bid to run the new venue.

'My personal view is that, if we couldn't make a success of it based on the experience we have, we should not get involved,' he commented.

But the civic society's regeneration specialist Tom Frears said Bognor was lucky to have a developer of the calibre of St Modwen's wanting to invest in the town.

He stated: 'There is no doubt about it. In St Modwen, we have managed to get one of the top developers in urban regeneration who have got the resources and the reputation in developing urban sites.'

The influential South East England Development Agency was also behind the regeneration plans as part of a desire to uplift the West Sussex coast.

'All in all, if no commercial operator comes forward and says they can run the new venue profitably and, at the same time, satisfy our wish for a proper ratio of films and live entertainment the situation will need to be reviewed,' he added.

St Modwen and Arun are set to sign a further agreement next month for the development of the arts centre and Hothamton sites.

This deal will pave the way for planning applications for the work to begin to be submitted.

l The civic society agreed to invite St Modwen to a public meeting in the summer to enable residents to meet the company.