Peterborough City Council facing £26.5m funding gap proposes to shut theatre

Peterborough City Council is proposing closing the loss-making Key Theatre, which opened on Embankment Road in the early 1970s

A theatre could close as part of cuts at a council that has been warned by government about the state of its financial health.

Peterborough City Council is proposing to shut the Key Theatre on 17 January along with the temporary closure of the Werrington Leisure Centre on 1 January.

The council said it would save £150,000 in the first six months of 2022.

In November, the council approved £9.5m of cuts for the next financial year but was still facing a £26m gap.

A review published last month by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on behalf of the government found the financial challenges the local authority faced were "significant and urgent".

The council said its gross budget for 2021-22 was £187.3m.

The Conservative-led council's deputy leader Steve Allen said "every effort will be made to get the theatre and leisure facilities back up and running as quickly as possible".

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Consultation will now begin with staff affected at the Key Theatre, ahead of the proposed closure.

The council said the theatre was forecast to lose about £300,000 in 2021-22.

The authority said it had obtained a commercial value for the sale of the Key Theatre and was in early discussions with a number of interested parties.

Mr Allen said ticket sales at the theatre had been "significantly below forecast overall" with income severely hampered by the Covid pandemic.

"Every effort will be made to redeploy staff and reduce the number of redundancies," Mr Allen said.

People who have tickets for performances after 17 January would be issued a refund.

A petition to save the theatre has received more than 3.500 signatures

Opposition Labour councillor Ed Murphy said the Conservative administration had "wasted their resources".

"The situation is critical, we've got assets and we should use those assets. Having them empty and making people redundant to keep them empty isn't an efficient and effective use of those assets," he said.

Liberal Democrat councillor Nick Sanford said it was a "self-defeating process, because if you put assets in to balance the budget you need to put more assets in next year".

"Every asset must be made to work harder," he added.

An online petition to keep the Key Theatre open had more than 3,500 signature in less than 24 hours.

It was started by Gavin Ashley-Cooper, who teaches with a youth theatre group at the Key, and said the skills the youngsters learn were "absolutely vital".

He said he had had several messages with memories and experiences of the theatre, adding: "It's amazing just how important this building is to people and Peterborough."

'Difficult decisions'

The Werrington Leisure Centre faces closure until September.

Staff at the centre would be redeployed elsewhere the council said on its website.

The centre is part of the Ken Stimpson Community School site and the school's use of the it would continue unaffected.

"We have said for some time that we face some difficult decisions on our road to achieving financial sustainability," said Mr Allen.

The city council had also placed a stop on spending on anything other than essential statutory services.