Decision details

Ms Val Hammond (Chair of Trustees of Taunton Theatre Association) presented the petition’s demands on behalf of My Theatre Matters which had been included within the Agenda along with a pro-forma assessing the potential approvals required;

Good evening Councillors I am Val Hammond, Chair of Trustees of Taunton Theatre Association, which as you know is a registered charity and which has successfully revived your capital asset The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre in Taunton. The petition was originally presented to Council on the 8^th October 2019 where it had been signed by over 3000 people. The petition requested an increase in funding to enable Taunton Theatre Association to sustain its high quality and accessible and diverse arts centre in Somerset’s County Town due to the planned redevelopment being put on hold by the Council’s new administration. The great majority of the signatories live in the District but some of them further afield evidencing the venues positive economic impact.

Taunton Theatre Association is the largest provider of arts and culture in the District, providing a rich and diverse programme at our base and increasingly working with others across the region and nationally. We’re a successful organisation, offering over a thousand events each year, six to seven days a week, day and night and with visitors now reaching 72,000 people a year. As you will recall, four years’ work with the previous Council resulted in well researched, realistic and ambitious plans for a Multi-Purpose Venue with a 750 seat theatre, cinema, studio theatre, art gallery, and cultural space. This flexible and sustainable venue would re-invigorate Taunton and benefit the whole region and its people. The project, anticipated for the Brewhouse site, could be re-purposed to provide a spectacular centrepiece for Firepool.

However, rather than repeat the presentation that was made to Council in October I would like to comment on the proposal before you and update on what has happened since then. I must emphasise, that the request for additional funding did not originate from TTA but was made in response to a request from the Council on 1^st April 2019 to set out clearly the financial implications of the proposed Brewhouse development not going ahead as planned. On the basis of this TTA brought forward a financial proposal demonstrating the additional costs necessary to sustain its cultural programme if it were to remain in the aged and seat limited Brewhouse facility we showed both best and worst case scenarios. Best case TTA winning grants from elsewhere, worst case based on not winning any grants at all. Something we have not experienced to date, although grants are usually dependent on there also being local Council support.

In the papers before you tonight, the figures showed the worst case for one year, that year has been rounded up and presented as if it was the case for each year. I put it to you that although it is wise to consider the worst case, the way it is presented is misleading especially as it includes the existing grant. We anticipated negotiation on would, could and couldn’t be afforded and to be asked to taper our request accordingly. Instead there have been no discussions on this particular aspect and little engagement recently. With uncertainty surrounding the planned redevelopment and funding TTA are in limbo, uncertain if we can continue to deliver the breadth and quality of arts provision successfully developed since we re-opened the Brewhouse in 2014, and as demanded by the public.

The re-development project, which could solve the sustainability issue, is on hold whilst The Brewhouse, the Council’s own asset further degrades, for example, during the Christmas show, The Railway Children, which was itself very enthusiastically received by very strong audiences, we had to close the Theatre to the public and cancel performances when water poured through the roof and into the main electricity board. We were grateful for the supply of the Council’s maintenance team, but must emphasise that this kind of unplanned expense is very likely to occur due to the age and structure of the building. A reason for looking seriously at redevelopment. For our part, TTA has already taken the difficult decision to close the premises on Mondays and further changes may be necessary without sufficient funding.

I would ask you please tonight to think carefully about your decision. It could well affect the future economic development of our County Town. As The Brewhouse is a key driver of the day and night-time economy and brings people from across the region as well as meeting local needs. The variety and scope of activities that we offer are unlikely to be delivered at any other centre on such a consistent basis across the whole age groups and cultural spectrum. We appreciate the Council has many demands on its funds and attention, but we must say that from our own hard-won experience it is harder to generate a lost theatre than to keep a successful venture going. Please support and engage with us to find a solution that works for all. Thank you.

Councillor Benet Allen (Portfolio Holder – Communications and Culture) responded and thanked Val for her presentation, and appreciated the work that The Brewhouse has done over the last four years. The petition did not make direct mention of the financial situation but he confirmed that there is provision in the forthcoming budget to maintain the £132,000 per annum which is the extent to which the Council currently subsidised The Brewhouse. He pointed out that there was another fairly large theatre in the District in Minehead which received absolutely no Council subsidy at all. They were quite good at fundraising and he implored The Brewhouse to look in all directions for funds. There was also an extra £28,000 in the current budget which he believed was for essential statutory maintenance to the building and to keep it running. The Council was very pleased with the TTA’s stewardship of The Brewhouse but he thought we could all agree that The Brewhouse was not in a very good physical shape and the building has got some very serious problems and rebuilding on that site may not be the easiest way forward. There was also, as he was sure everybody was aware, a rectangle on the new Firepool Development Plan marked ‘venue’ and as most people were aware there was talk about moving The Brewhouse or some theatre into that slot. So the existing building we have got wasn’t really going to do the trick. Nonetheless the current subsidy would continue and he responded as to why the previous report wasn’t brought to Full Council. Simply we had been advised by our s151 officer that there was no budgetary provision to provide the extra £1.2 million pounds being asked for over three years and the report was pulled on that basis. Since we were considering new developments over at Firepool we must necessarily keep the project on hold for the time being. TTA were asked to continue to do the excellent work that they had been doing and obviously to look for funds wherever they could find them. They would be aware that they cannot rely on the District Council as a sole source of funding and the Council had many demands on its funding and we were doing our best to allocate our funds as we could. We would continue to engage in dialogue with The Brewhouse about current operations and its long-term future.

Councillor Caroline Ellis made comments of support for The Brewhouse and the TTA and considered it a vital part of Taunton and the wider district. She requested access to the previous feasibility study which included the business case and plan for the redevelopment of The Brewhouse and the previous thinking of the last administration. As an organisation we needed a much better grip on arts and culture. It was a really important partnership and a better way was needed going forward of resolving this. The Brewhouse was vital for the town.

Councillor Norman Cavill stated that the economic impact of The Brewhouse in the last year had amounted to £2.4 million and a large amount of that had been retained in the area. If you were moving a company into the area you need that arts culture, and this was necessary to the town being a growing town. You had to have a vibrant theatre offer, that is full-time and of a size that makes it viable.

Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts (Leader of the Council) responded that she partly echoed Cllr Allen’s points and appreciated that it has taken time to get to this point. The Leader advised that there had been difficulties since coming in as a new administration in May 2019 when the Transformation Programme did not survive impact with reality. There are many things we have had to initiate to ensure that basic services are stabilised such as grass cutting, telephone calls answered and bins are collected. That stabilisation has been the paramount focus of the Council, and along the way we had advised TTA that the new administration does value arts and culture, but despite what may have been said by the previous administration, there were not the funds available to build a new building or provide the £1.2 million request which was not in the budget in October. The Council would be continuing to provide a grant, which is one of the biggest grants that the Council gives out and is proposed to continue in budget setting and is for Council to decide and dialogue would of course continue. The Leader personally reiterated her belief that TTA did great things, with her own family and friends seeing shows recently and there were really great opportunities for all of us including local children to go. TTA did a fantastic job, unfortunately there are so many different pulls on our services the Council just needed to spin all those plates, and whilst it’s just taking a little bit of time to get there we are going as fast as we can.

The Chair drew the item to a close, and as no motions were forthcoming by default the Council decided to take no further action.