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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What the cost implications are. I think it's well understood that we are not the owners of the theatre and that we lease it from the owners. This has necessitated discussions as to who and how should pay for both surveys and ultimately the work to rectify the issue. The motion that was put forward in July wasn't costed.
And therefore, rather than rejecting the motion, as stated in the papers, I'm proposing that we defer it until we have that information for better and more meaningful discussion about the motion when that information is available. And that will be both the survey and the business case. And I'm therefore recommending that Recommendation 5 on the paper is reworded
to defer the council motion of July 23rd 2024 until the appropriate information is available as set out in paragraphs 24 to 29 of the report.
We actually have an opportunity now to evaluate what we need for the next 40 years and how we provide that. We have more and more groups looking for dance studios, rehearsal space, as well as businesses looking for conference venues. Now seems to me to be the time to discuss how we deliver this. That's why we have the consultation event in October.
We want to provide the best we can for all our residents. It's important all the way through this process that we do everything we can to ensure a long-term future for live theatre and the performing arts, whilst obviously ensuring value for money for all our residents across the borough.
Firstly, they wholly own the theatre. They also have a contractual obligation to the providers of all their events in the theatre. Their part of the contract is to provide a space. To meet that obligation, the cost of their temporary theatre was £2.7 million. Work has started on repairing the roof.
It's a fairly simple roof structure and therefore has made the job easier and they're planning to complete the work sometime nearer the end of 2025. The planned works and upgrade to the Orchard Theatre have been planned for a number of years and had already been budgeted for within the council's budget. The cost of the works to the Orchard Theatre is between £10 and £11 million.
I also understand there's been some comparisons between the library and the theatre. Whilst there was some rack in the library, I understand in a plant room, the construction of the library ceiling is fundamentally different to that required for an auditorium roof, and the cost implications, again, are different.
It's also worth mentioning that Surrey had also budgeted for refurbishment, similar to Dartford, and therefore already had money available within existing agreed budgets.
I will continue to do everything I can to ensure we secure the very best provision for arts and culture, for live theatre, for performers, for musicians and for backstage technicians, not just for the medium term, but long into the future.
I would ask everyone here to take part in that process to form the future and make sure the youth of the future have got lots of opportunities within this borough.
As you know, the pop-up has got to close, and we're not sure exactly when that will be. It's under... different circumstances and unfortunately not able to be discussed at the moment, but I've had with Councillor Michalowski a meeting with the belfry to find what other opportunities we can use when that one closes.
So we have started those discussions and hopefully that gives us some opportunities with the belfry working together.
The medium-term plan will be a plan based on not having access to the theatre and having access to the theatre. We've got to have both of those because at some point in that medium term, but long term, we may well need a much bigger theatre. We may well not need a cinema. We may well need more dance studios, more performance space, more art gallery space. All of those things we may need.
in the future, in the long term. And that's a lot more. But they need to be started, as Councillor Terry asked me earlier, they need to be started at the same time, those conversations, so that we can provide and we can adapt while that medium term's going on. And that's what I expect us to be doing.
As we explained at the beginning, when you don't own the building, it's always more complicated because there's costs involved. If you're living in a rented flat and there's a major problem, you don't go and pay for it. You ask the landlord to pay for it. And those sort of conversations have to go on. So I am going to actually turn to our head of property, Dan Jones.
Thank you. The business that it brings in to Redhill, £618 per £1,000 of ticket sales. So for Redhill, that's £618,000 of business that is potentially affected. What that figure doesn't take into account is the additional business that the rise with the light has brought into Redhill. So it's a little bit of a different balance.
Since closure, teams from across the council have been working alongside many stakeholders and partners, including undertaking initial surveys to establish the facts and investigate the situation surrounding the rack. these inquiries are still ongoing.
However, given the significant levels of RAC and the unique implications and complexities this has for operating an auditorium or theatre, the venue is expected to remain closed for some time. We opened a pop-up space in the Belfry Shopping Centre we have continued to deliver an outdoor summer season and we moved the planned pantomime for 2023 into a big top in the Memorial Park.
Our main priority above all is safety to our users and our staff. And for that reason, the closure remains the safest option while all parties continue to work together. I and the council recognise how important the Harlequin is The Council recognises the value of the arts, the role that the Harlequin plays,
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