"Shakespeare must be turning in his grave": Part of Titchfield Festival Theatre to be dismantled due to no planning permission

A planning enforcement notice issued against Titchfield Festival Theatre for creating the venue from a storage area without planning permission has been upheld by the Planning Inspectorate.

Planning inspector Nancy Thomas has ruled it must be shut by October 12 after the theatre’s appeal failed.

The theatre’s artistic director Kevin Fraser had appealed against the enforcement order brought by Fareham Borough Council in December and the case was heard at a public inquiry in May but it was dismissed on August 12.

Mr Fraser, who is also the chair of trustees, said: “I am clearly broken-hearted at the decision from the Planning Inspectorate. The country will lose one of its greatest community arts assets and Shakespeare must be turning in his grave.”

The inspector also ordered the area dug out to make an underground orchestra pit must be filled in, and seating, staging, lighting and sound equipment be dismantled within seven months.

The Arden at 71-73 St Margarets Lane had been created to the rear of the 188-seat Oak Theatre and the 96-seat Acorn Studio that have been operating since 2012 will continue at the Titchfield Festival Theatre.

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The decision document said the inspector did not deem the development as “small-scale” and so the Arden Theatre was not under lawful development. She said Mr Fraser had breached planning rules including not undergoing a ”sequential test” that looked for other sites that the theatre could have been built on as part of the process.

The community theatre is in a rural neighbourhood that was also deemed unable to sustain the 33,000 potential visitors the 102 performances per year would generate in terms of impact on the neighbourhood with parking, noise and traffic safety.

The planning inspector said there was “inadequate parking” at the location which made the site unsuitable for the Arden development and caused “harm to the vitality and viability of the Borough’s centres and parades, and harm to highway safety through inadequate parking provision”.

Fareham Borough Council’s vice chairman of the planning committee, Cllr Ian Bastable said: “I am pleased to see the planning enforcement notice has been upheld and the appeal dismissed. It seems extraordinary that, despite concerns raised by the council in connection with creating a large theatre here, the works still went ahead.

“I would like to reassure all of our residents that where development is carried out without planning permission, and is unacceptable in planning terms, this council will take action against it.’

The Titchfield Theatre Appeal can be read in full at the Fareham Borough Council website Ref: APP/A1720/C/23/3336046.