CAMPAIGNERS CALL ON STOCKPORT COUNCIL TO PUT PARTY POLITICS ASIDE AND SAVE THE FORUM THEATRE.
A Stockport campaigner is calling on the council to put party politics aside and step in to save a much-loved community facility.
Paul Athans, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove, has written to Stockport Council, asking them to find a solution to allow the Forum Theatre in Romiley to reopen.
The well-loved theatre has been closed since last September due to the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) within the building.
Paul said "the council have known of the presence of RAAC since 2017, however the tenants, NK Theatre Arts (NKTA) were unaware, adding that he believes the authorities Lib Dem councillors chose to blame the Government rather than take ownership of the issue themselves."
“The council claimed to have been working to find a solution on this, although they have known about the problems since 2017 and we’re still waiting. As the owners of the building, the buck stops with them, however at a recent meeting their Lib Dem councillors chose to blame the Government rather than take ownership of the issue themselves.
“They talked at length about how it was not their fault but failed to provide the leadership or action the community needs.”
Paul added that local people have reached out to him and he has been working with members of the ‘Free the Forum’ campaign group, who were set up to find a solution to get the Forum back open.
Theatre user and founder of Free the Forum, Cassie Briffa said:
“I waited before approaching Paul because I didn’t want the issue to become a political football. However, it seems clear from the last council meeting that the issue is very much becoming political, with more focus on apportioning blame than asking the council why they still haven’t come up with a plan. They’ve had six years to undertake remedial works in the building since they first found the RAAC and they have done nothing."
"The Forum Theatre is so important to the community that I can’t imagine why anyone who cares about the area would delay in finding a solution. I feel that we’ve been let down by the Council and that it has taken too long for our Local Councillors to take action in holding them to account. It’s been four months since the closure and we are no further forward than we were at the start. On top of that, Council staff photoshopped signage for the theatre out of promotional images featuring the Council Leader, leading people to believe that the theatre had closed down completely. And all this during Stockport’s Town of Culture Year, it’s shocking.”"
"At the start of September last year, it was made clear that requests for financial help for RAAC issues in non-education settings would be heard and considered by the Government on a case-by-case basis. But for that to happen, someone needs to actually come up with a figure and ask for it."
"I’m grateful to Paul for meeting with me and for championing our Free the Forum campaign. Hopefully now we can get action from the Council.”
Paul added that Free the Forum have told him that they fear NKTA is running out of money and feel any further dithering or delay puts the entire future of the Forum Theatre at risk.
He said: “I want to know why the council did not create a contingency plan when RAAC was first identified in 2017. A similar issue occurred in Peterborough, so the council could have contacted them to see how they solved the problem there. Unfortunately, this situation appears to be a Lib Dem council putting party politics before the community."
"The Forum Theatre is a community asset, and its loss is not just impacting theatre goers, but parents, children, and local businesses that rely on the wide array of services the Forum Theatre provides.”
