Weymouth Pavilion: Facility cost us £1.6m over two years

Councillor Peter Farrell is calling for a referendum which will give Weymouth and Portland residents the chance to make a decision on the council-funded theatre’s future.

The Weymouth and Portland Borough councillor is angry at figures showing that the Pavilion Theatre in Weymouth is on budget to cost £890,811 this financial year – with an overspend of £166,323.

Fellow councillors say that the disappointing figures put the beleaguered building at risk.

Coun Farrell, a Weymouth and Portland borough councillor, said: “I believe the public have a right to decide on this.

“We need a referendum and the public need to be told the full facts on the Pavilion.

“It hasn’t made any money. It needs to be made to work or knocked down.”

Since a decision was made to save the 49-year-old Pavilion complex in July 2009, figures from the financial year 2009/10 show that it cost £807,339 to run.

In the last financial year of 2010/11 the Pavilion cost £798,274 to run – a total of £1,605,613 over the two years.

Coun Farrell, who represents the Melcombe Regis ward which includes the Pavilion, said tough financial decisions had to be made in the current economic climate.

“We have to make the theatre pay or we close it.

“If members of the council decide we want to keep the Pavilion we will have to make some decisions about cutting grants to disabled groups and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

“These losses are unsustainable,” he said.

Coun Farrell said the councillors who voted to save the Pavilion two years ago were wrong.

“The decision was a mistake. It was an emotive decision in the face of pressure.”

The Pavilion is the only municipal theatre in Dorset, Coun Farrell said.

He added: “Not enough people are using the theatre to justify the cost of it.

“The vast majority of people I spoke to don’t use it. They would object to paying for it every year at a time when their own finances are stretched to the limit.

“Municipal theatres are a thing of the past. People would rather use their disposable incomes in other ways.

“Weymouth would be better served by a smaller 500-seat community theatre which is funded by a trust.”

Councillor Farrell spoke out after a meeting of the borough council’s management committee in which it was heard that ticket sales at the Pavilion have been ‘very poor’.

Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Andy Blackwood said the future of the Pavilion is at risk.

He said: “There will be some people who have got a fair idea about what they want to do with the Pavilion.

“I would urge a bit of caution about what these figures are saying.

“I would agree that these figures need robust monitoring. I don’t think it’s stretching the point to say that the future of the Pavilion is at risk.”

Councillors were told that they would be given a breakdown of profit taken by the Pavilion for each event it has held.

Council leader Mike Goodman said: “I’m delighted we’re going to have this. It doesn’t make sense to put on an event that loses money.

“If the downside of us not having the Moscow Ballet here means that half a dozen people go to Bournemouth then that’s the way it is.”

A 'reputationally poor' weekend for borough

MEMBERS of the management committee said the ‘fiasco’ of soul star Lemar performing at the Pavilion did little for its reputation.

Organisers of last month’s event at the Pavilion came under fire after the audience was kept waiting for almost three hours to see Lemar perform a 35-minute set for an event billed ‘An Evening With Lemar’.

Councillor Christine James said: “I’d like to look into that fiasco. Was the person who was meant to be performing elsewhere?”

Councillor Kate Wheller said: “Last weekend was reputationally very poor for us.

“I was bombarded with emails and phone calls from people who were unhappy because nobody got back to them about their complaints.

“There was some question about what was said to people who were there by members of staff.

“It’s that reputational thing.”