The response to my letter, to the Peter Oakford at STC: From: peter oakford Subject: Royal Victoria Hall Date: 5 January 2015 17:58:43 GMT To: peter oakford Cc: Brenda Wickens Dear All, Royal Victoria Hall Thank you for your email regarding the Royal Victoria Hall (RVH). I have received a number of emails over the past few days regarding the closure of the RVH therefore I am sending this response to everyone that has made contact to ensure a consistent message is received by all. There are some comments within these emails which are based on inaccuracies about why the hall has closed and what is now planned for the site. I can assure you there are not any plans to sell to Tesco or any other supermarket. Southborough Town Council (STC) has already refused to sell the playing fields to Tesco which is the reason the land in their ownership is on the market (the old Bell Pub site). Nor will the land be sold to a property developer for a residential development; it will be used to build an exciting, modern cultural hub for Southborough. There has been a huge amount of work carried out over the past 8 years in an attempt to keep the RVH open. This has been followed up by work currently being carried out in conjunction with Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) and Kent County Council to ensure it is replaced with a cultural hub which contains a new and much improved theatre, library, sporting and community facilities. I would like to address the issues you raise by providing some detail on what has happened regarding the RVH over recent years, the decision making process and the current position. While I and all the Southborough Town Councillors regret the decision that was made on 9 September 2014 to close the RVH this was completely independent of any future development. From the councillors present there was not a single vote against closure at this meeting, although there was one abstention. I and other members of STC have spent many years fighting to keep the hall open while spending many tens, running into hundreds of thousands of pounds of local tax payers’ money maintaining, repairing and subsidising the on going operation. The matter was brought to a head recently when following an accident where a child caught a finger in the folding seats the parents instigated legal action against STC. This resulted in the insurance company advising STC that unless the seating was replaced insurance for the hall would be withdrawn with immediate effect. At this point the council spent a small amount of money on temporary seating, albeit with some 60 less seats in the auditorium, as we thought it was important to keep the hall operating through the pantomime season. The reason the RVH has closed is purely financial as there is currently £100,000 of outstanding structural repairs with a further £62,000 identified. This is in addition to expenditure required to: · Make the hall DDA compliant which will be between £60,000 to £100,000 · Replacement of the drainage to the bathrooms (which has major problems resulting in blockages and causes an unpleasant smell through the hall) · Health and safety required improvements to the roof void before staff are permitted to use this area, to enable the changing of ceiling lights, · Repairs to the fire escape and boundary wall · Repair of a main loadbearing wall which is bowing · A replacement boiler · Upgrades to the stage lighting and sound system which need monthly repairs just to keep them working · Replacement of the seating which had to be removed Even if the RVH was more fully occupied this would only address the day to day running cost and the level of subsidy that STC through the tax payers of Southborough and High Brooms would need to provide towards the operation of the RVH, not the major structural and repair work that is outstanding. In recent years the Town Council explored many other methods of managing the RVH to ensure its continued operation, including developing a stand-alone business, placing it into a charitable trust and offering a lease of the building to a third party. Unfortunately STC only own the freehold of the actual theatre; all the land around the hall, including the car park, storage areas and council office are within the ownership of TWBC who would not provide the required permission for STC to sub-let these areas which was required to enable this to happen. I am aware that comments have been made recently by some members of the public that TWBC have said they are rethinking this but I have had confirmation this morning from TWBC this is not the case. The following quote is from the email I received from TWBC, “I think we make it clear we have no intention of offering terms to a voluntary or any other group. We will ensure our freehold remains unencumbered”. STC has limited financial reserves which were badly impacted by the need to spend approximately £60,000 on the repairs to Holden Pond following the extended period of heavy rain last winter. The remaining reserves are required to ensure that all other local amenities within our town are maintained for the benefit of the entire local community. These included the common, Pennington Park (which unfortunately has recently been subject to a spate of expensive vandalism), the various children’s play areas, Ridgewaye playing fields, the community centre and the cemetery. It would be financially irresponsible for STC to spend the limited reserves it has on the RVH as the funds available would not even cover the outstanding structural repairs. We did investigate grant and Heritage Lottery Funding but were advised that these were not available to us. However, the Town Council does hope that you will be encouraged by the future town centre development which has recently been agreed by Kent County Council, TWBC and STC and will see the three local authorities pooling their resources in the area. The proposed development will include a new modern and much improved theatre and community building (please remember only the central building of the RVH is original as front and rear additions were added in the 70s), new library, outdoor performance area, town square, café, new changing rooms and facilities for the 450 children that play football on the Ridgewaye and space for further community use. It is planned this will be open in time for the Southborough Town pantomime to be the first performance in the new theatre at Christmas 2016. During late 2013 a public consultation/exhibition was held regarding the possibility of this development with posters being displayed around the town, a huge banner across the RVH and a leaflet advertising the day and timing for this delivered to every household in Southborough and High Brooms. In addition a number of one to one meetings were held with stakeholders and others were invited to attend focus groups. Around 350 residents turned up to the consultation/exhibition however of these only 140 made comments. The enabling factor to this development is the agreement between all three local authorities to pool their assets which will include the construction of a number of residential units on an adjacent area of land. The residential development will fund the entire construction of the new Cultural Hub which will include a modern, flexible multi-use theatre facility. Without this agreement not only would the RVH be closed but there would not be any possibility of developing a new facility in its place. This new exciting development will revitalize and breathe life into Southborough Town Centre. The proposal document (excluding financially sensitive information) can be found on the STC website atsouthboroughcouncil.co.uk/default.cfm?pid=2626. The pictures on the website show what is envisaged for the new Cultural Hub in the centre of Southborough. The next stage is to further engage with stakeholders (including the Theatres Trust who have already been made aware of this development), as the architects begin to firm up the design that will be submitted for planning. It is during this stage that the final submission will be developed which will include the size of the new theatre, library services to be offered, the sports pavilion, town square design, etc. I hope this email explains the current situation regarding Royal Victoria Hall and why the decision to close was made. Yours Sincerely Peter Peter J. Oakford Chairman, Southborough Town Council.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:08:28 +0000