After a chaotic cabinet meeting and despite questions over transparency, Cannock Chase District Council has taken a decision that will likely lead to the bulldozing of Cannock’s Prince of Wales Theatre.
Cannock Chase District Council commissioned The Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy (SLC) to produce an independent evaluation of a proposal that was submitted by the Cannock Chase Theatre Trust to take over the Prince of Wales Theatre under a Community Asset Transfer.
The trust was created by and for local people to ensure a theatre could exist in Cannock. Just as many local people have done to ensure the security of small community theatres and cinemas up and down the country. You may have seen the film ‘Saving the Cinema’ which is based on the real life story of the Lyric Cinema in Carmarthen which still exists today as a theatre.
The trust was created in the aftermath of a council decision to impose SLCs suggestion to close the Prince of Wales as it deemed it never to be able to be self-sufficient.
The council’s role was to weigh the evidence and decide whether the bid meets the criteria – which was mainly about whether the venue could survive without subsidy.
While SLC’s role was to present that evidence in a neutral way, there is evidence to suggest the evaluation reads more like a strongly worded rejection letter than an independent investigation.
Here’s some examples;
“Wildly over optimistic and commercially naive”, “Complete lack of understanding of the reality of commercial theatre operations”, “Flagship… claims are unsubstantiated and overstated” and “Implausible 100% gross margin”.
This is important. The council is fearful and wants to try and protect it from ending up in a place with a huge financial liability. Given the state of local council funding, it’s understandable. However, it’s therefore critical to ensure analysis leads a decision, not the wording of that analysis.
This is especially contentious when Theatres Trust has also looked at the same financial plan and came to a different conclusion.
It’s undoubable that SLC has substantial experience in leisure, culture, and public-sector consultancy. However, it’s uncertain as to SLCs direct experience of operating a theatre as a producing or receiving house. This really does matter when discussing the business plan of a theatre, which is a unique business model and is not the same as operating a leisure centre or stadium.
All things considered, it’s not a surprise it made such a stark difference in opinion between SLC and the Theatres Trust about whether the Cannock Chase Theatre Trust had the potential of a sound business case.
This all leads us to this point. The council decided to unsurprising side with SLC. A decision that leads in its wake, a town with no theatre and a council with no idea of its cultural strategy.
What should have been the diamond at the heart of a multi-million pound investment programme has ended up being a bleak conclusion that will undoubtedly have consequences for years to come for the people of Cannock.
The Theatre Twittic 
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