Council agrees theatre site should be redeveloped

Councillors have agreed that the site of a former theatre should be redeveloped.

The future of the Clair Hall site, in Haywards Heath, has been under scrutiny since Mid Sussex District Council decided to close the venue in 2020.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Monday members agreed that a mixed-use development should be built on the site, with the land value from the housing funding a new cultural facility.

The council heard a proposal by Save Clair Hall had scope to be developed and would be brought back for consideration at a later date.

The venue served as a vaccination centre during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy council leader Chris Hobbs said: “We want to give ourselves the opportunity to create something that will last for the next 50 years at least.

“Sadly the current building can’t do that.”

Mr Hobbs said repair costs to the building, before any changes, would cost nearly £3m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

He added: “We’d be letting residents down if all we offered them was second, third or fourth best.”

The mixed-use option was originally approved by the cabinet last September – but the process was paused to allow community groups to come up with alternative suggestions.

Six proposals were received from Aldi, the Girl Guides, Haywards Heath Scouts, the Save Clair Hall group, U3A, and Mike Stewart.

They were examined by an independent panel – but only the Save Clair Hall proposal met the criteria for eligibility, the council said.

A report to the meeting said there may be scope to develop that proposal – but it would take money.

It added: “In general, whilst the Save Clair Hall group had provided a community led proposal... the technical panel did not think that there was a realistic means by which their proposal in its current form could be realised.”

The aim is to bring a proposal for the site back to the council at a later date.

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