Richard Bigg
speaker
138 appearances
5 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2024
last heard Feb 2025
Richard Bigg’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
And also to reassure them that as an executive, we will take their views and ideas into account when considering the way forward at the end of the month.
I think I said at that meeting optimistically to three years and possibly up to five years to get it back. I don't think that's changed from the conversations that we've had so far, but we need to get further down the road and then we can start putting proper dates on things.
The other thing that we're looking at is the opportunity as to how the theatre is actually managed and the method of delivery. I mentioned Trafalgar earlier. They run 22 theatres, many for councils across the country. They arrange the shows and everything else and obviously the staff are Trafalgar staff.
So I think we're going to take this opportunity to look at the best delivery method for the maximum amount of arts and culture that we can deliver through the theatre and find the best solution. And obviously we now have that opportunity to do that locally while we do that. So that conversation will go on.
None of the groups run all-year-round events. There's a comedy club that is on a monthly basis, but most of them need a specific time. So the amount of time was about, off the top of my head, and I haven't got my paper with me, About 12 or 13 weeks that community groups use the Harlequin. So it's what you do with the other 39 if you're providing a temporary venue.
So at the moment, as far as temporary venues are concerned, we're looking for a mix that suits certain groups. And that work is continuing. And a lot of that information will come to the executive on the 30th.
We know for a fact that not just one facility will cover the needs of the community based on what we know the needs are and also what's available within the borough. It's going to be a mix and part of that mix will be available all year round, and part of that mix will be available at certain times. So it's not one or the other because it's not one building.
The likelihood is that initially there is no availability within the borough for that big. So unfortunately 500 is not practical at this stage with the facilities that so far we've looked at as a temporary measure.
And at the executive, we will find out exactly what the officer's final thing is, but I'm trying to give you some early advice that the likelihood at the moment is that we haven't found a suitable arrangement for something of that size and the cost. And if we've got to spend the money, I want to spend it straight on getting the Harlequin back and up and running, to be honest.
They're two very different buildings. One is an auditorium. It's a very large, very large expanse of roof. The library isn't that. It's a lot more complicated with the plant because all the plant is sitting on our roof and it's not in the library, so there are a lot of factors that make the difference as to where we've got to, and as to the library refurbishment and the timeframe,
that's been set by Surrey County Council and I know Dan has been in regular conversation with them.
The temporary theatre in Dartford costs £2 million per year, so five years is £10 million. That's a lot of money and they spent £11 million on refurbishing the theatre as well. So I don't think it's a cheap option. I did speak to Trafalgar and the reason that they had for temporary theatre was because they had a very tight contract with Trafalgar that they had to meet and deliver.
And one of the conversations I had with Trafalgar was because of the nature of the temporary space, they had to cancel and compensate some of the pre-booked projects that should have been going on at that. So it wasn't a perfect solution either, and it was a very expensive solution, but they had contractual obligations to do that. I want to find the most cost effective
because my priority is bringing the Harlequin back, not providing a temporary theatre of 500 seats. It's much more important to get the Harlequin back.
The council were contractually obliged to provide the space and Trafalgar provided the content with agreements for community use during the course of the 12 months, each 12 months. So, yeah, it was a council obligation. As far as insurance is concerned, I'm afraid I can't answer that. That would have to be either finance or our chief exec.
it's become very clear that both we have lease obligations we have community obligations, and we have obligations to arts and culture, all of which will come up at the executive. But I think it's fair to mention now that I've already had meetings with officers to ensure that we find a way of allocating within our funds £10 million for the refurbishment of the Harlequin.
It will have to go to full council, it will be debated, it will be a recommendation that the executive will put forward, but the plan is to find a way to allocate the funds to alleviate many of the fears that people are showing.
So what's coming to the executive is a number of options to provide temporary space while we rebuild for over three or five years the Harlequin. So no, absolutely not. There will not be no provision. We're hoping that provision will be available very, very quickly. And some of it is already available. So it's not about waiting for five years. It's three to five years to get the Harlequin back.
But there will be options coming to the Executive on the 30th to meet those needs of the community as much as we can within the borough.
A lot of this will come to the executive on the 30th and I think let's not presume those sorts of things until we've seen the papers on the 23rd. I think that will answer a lot of the questions from now chair and hopefully councillors will bear with us while we sort that out.
Showing 61–80 of 138 · page 4 of 7
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