Decision day looms on the proposed closure of the Prince of Wales theatre.

At the end of 2024, Cannock Chase Council announced the proposal to close down the towns local theatre and the Museum of Cannock Chase. Following the news that has caused outrage across the community, furthermore details have been obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Perhaps most shockingly, it revealed the council has done no investigations into the impact such drastic closures of community hubs will have on its local community. A request for a copy of any impact assessments was responded to that the consultation will define the risk assessment.

It was confirmed through the request that the consultancy firm who provided data to support the council to make a decision was the Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy and the total cost of the project so far has cost around £52,000 – one seventh of the annual cost of running the Prince of Wales and the Museum.

Despite a request, the data that was submitted to the council to compile the report was not supplied. This is an unfortunate lack of transparency as the report itself is lacking in substance for reasons why the consultancy teams believe the Museum of Cannock Chase and Prince of Wales theatre are both financially untenable.

The public consultation has now closed and the issue is due for wider council debate on Wednesday  12th February.

It would encouraged before tomorrow that local councillors read the recently published report on ‘Culture and Heritage Capital: Moneytising the impact of culture and heritage on health and wellbeing’ produced by Fronteir Economics. The report, commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, highlights the financial savings that having access to arts and heritage has on society.  The full details of the report can be found here and shows the financial impact the decision to take culture away from Cannock will financial burden the local area.