Titchfield Festival Theatre should not be allowed to stay open because it is 'harming the local area' - claim

Titchfield Festival Theatre’s appeal against a planning enforcement notice entered a third day, with a planning inspector set to decide the fate of part of a 450-seat theatre, which is part of the St Margaret’s Lane site. Fareham Borough Council said it was built without permission, but this is disputed by the theatre.

On the third day of the inquiry, planning inspector Nancy Thomas heard evidence from Fareham Borough Council’s town planning expert Stephen Jupp to support an enforcement planning notice the authority issued against the charity.

He began by answering questions from the council’s barrister Emma Dring and then from Titchfield Festival Theatre’s KC, Megan Thomas. The inquiry had already heard evidence from Ian Donohue, the theatre’s planning expert on day two.

Under questioning from Emma Dring, Mr Jupp said the development was clearly in conflict with planning policies. The theatre had not gone through the procedure of looking for alternative sites, a ‘sequential test’ before expanding and should have looked at Fareham for a satellite site. He said the theatre was not just serving a local need but had a wider client base than just Titchfield as evidenced by Steve Clark, from a Portsmouth-based theatre company who gave a representation at the inquiry on the first day.

Mr Jupp had calculated that with 102 performances per year, at 70 per cent capacity, the Arden Theatre alone would generate 33,000 visitors. This intensity and expansion meant that the existing planning application had been breached and could not be considered a small-scale rural development. It materially changed and so new planning permission should have been sought.

Under cross-examination, Mr Jupp said to Megan Thomas: “There was no way of mitigating harm that had already taken place or future harm of parking, noise and [road] safety. Harm occurs and continues to occur.”

Megan Thomas said the theatre is a community and leisure facility and part of the cultural infrastructure and located in the countryside. As such there is a policy where countryside expansion should be allowed if there is a local need.

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There was much back and forth over the distinction of local and regional need, and Ms Thomas said there was not another theatre nearby that offered the community benefits and facilities Titchfield Festival Theatre offered.

While Mr Jupp agreed with the benefits of the venue, he said he was not placed to compare it to other theatres, like Portsmouth’s Kings Theatre. He said it was also about the scale of expansion and harm caused to its locality that breached planning permission.

Planning inspector Nancy Thomas also heard representations from four more Titchfield Festival Theatre supporters on Thursday morning who sat in the packed public gallery at The Holiday Inn, Fareham.

Sarah Lock, of Locks Heath, who runs the Tots Rehabilitation programme at the venue, said she makes theatre accessible to a current group of 15, 18-month to preschool-age toddlers. She said: “It gives the children the opportunity to do shows with professional lights and music in an auditorium not offered elsewhere in the area. It brings together its parents and carers who have become good friends. The potential of losing that would be devastating.”

Titchfield resident Donna Lennon said the community theatre has helped her mental health and her five-year-old daughter’s stutter. She said it’s a great facility for the children and gives them somewhere other than McDonald’s to go to in the future. She said: “It’s somewhere to go, very positive and good for the community.”

Volunteer of six years, Jeanette Evans, runs the outreach programme at the Arden Theatre. She said: “We do so much for the mental health and emotional support of large numbers in the community. We go out into the community to rest homes, to lunch clubs, to local schools. By destroying the Arden you will be destroying the opportunities to a huge amount of people.”

Stewart Trotter, talked about Titchfield Theatre’s cultural importance ‘making a bond with Shakespeare’. He said there is growing evidence that Shakespeare was in Titchfield and cited a letter signed by the Earl of Southampton with the body of the letter in Shakespeare’s handwriting.

The inquiry continues into a fourth day at the Fareham Borough Council chamber. Closing arguments will be heard on Tuesday, May 21 virtually, with a decision from the Inspectorate by July 3. A timetable and documents can be found here.