South Holland Centre redundancies voted through after council leader claims bid to defer decision would be ‘killing’ theatre

A late bid to delay a decision on slashing the number of roles at Spalding’s South Holland Centre was defeated last night after South Holland District Council’s leader said that would equate to “killing” the centre as it was costing council tax payers around £250,000 a year.

The authority’s council voted the proposed restructure through following a lengthy and heated debate, the first time the proposals had been discussed in public.

The council hasn’t officially said how many roles are being reduced, but it’s understood to be 26 roles being cut to seven, a move that has upset a number of centre users concerned that the loss of the technical expertise those in roles “brought will affect them being able to hold events as they had previously.”

Coun Angela Newton tabled a motion to defer the decision towards the end of the year and called for a proper business case be actually shown to councillors before a decision is made as well as asking why no other options were being considered, but that angered many Conservative councillors.

Coun Newton said: “I think we all agree things couldn’t go on as they were. Nearly every meeting I’ve said can we make sure the South Holland Centre’s ready for lift off, but then we’ve found we had a leak, then we found we had to do some re-wiring, now we have to do some redecorating. So it’s not ready which is sad.

“While we probably have to do some restructuing we’re probably doing it too early.

“We’ve taken a decision to join with two councils who have more expertise than us.

“We’ve budgeted with the building to the end of March and last year there was a £43,000 underspend so I think it was moving in the right direction.

“Yes we have spent a lot of money, most areas do on their theatres. It’s right in the centre of the town and we’re trying to give signals with the town centre regeneration group that Spalding’s open for business.”

Leader of the district council Lord Gary Porter claimed that the future of the centre was at stake if the council didn’t make a decision there and then.

“What you’re in danger of doing if you don’t get this through tonight is killing the whole building off for the rest of its life,” he said. “When we first came in we were down about half a million a year in subsidy going down that throat. We’ve now got that subsidy down to quarter of a million pounds and what we hope is more public support.

“What we can’t afford to do is continually put in a quarter of a million pounds that we haven’t got because we’re taking it out of somebody else’s pocket into that building.

“I don’t think any of us want to get to a position where we don’t do live stuff.

“We’re not proposing scaling stuff back. We’ve heard there’ll manage those shows with flexible staffing and we’ll ensure that’s what happens.

“It’s not going to have people hanging about in the building doing jobs that don’t exist at times when the public don’t need them to.

“We need them to focus on delivering the best theatre we can, the best cinema we can in a limited set of resources.

“I like the idea of a users group and I really like the idea of saying to Boston and East Lindsey, you come in and let’s see if we can make the thing better.

“We’ve all said we want a better and more inclusive building. That’s why you have to support this.

“If we lose another quarter of a million pounds you’ll either be emptying the dustbins fortnightly and keeping the South Holland Centre open or you’ll be keeping the bins weekly and keeping the centre open in a way that costs the tax payer less.

“If we don’t change the way the South Holland Centre runs it will eat all of the controllable revenue you have. That’s the problem we’re facing.”

The meeting heard that a grant of around £254,000 from the Arts Council had been secured which was for the upkeep of the South Holland Centre and to get it ready for the re-start.

Councillors also questioned what working hours the council had based its decision on and what discussions had been had with other theatre users.

Coun Chris Brewis told the meeting: “I think this has been sprung on us without adequate thought and the fact the answers to many of the questions haven’t been very precise shows that this hasn’t been fully thought through.

“The problem with the centre is it has been run almost 1960s style and we’re now trying to jump to 2030.”

Coun Gary Taylor, the district council’s policy holder for place, said a Friends of South Holland Centre group was in the process of being set up.

Introducing the proposal, he said: “The South Holland Centre’s direct operating cost was already greater than income generated prior to COVID.

“The South Holland taxpayer subsidy over the last four years is in excess of £1m. That clearly cannot continue.

“It’s not yet clear how the leisure and culture and hospitality industry will recover so we can’t predict future incomes which leads to future uncertainties.

“We have this opportunity to refine the offer at the South Holland Centre while still providing a subsidy for community projects and supporting local groups and projects which are important to our residents.

“It’s about providing some of our services in a different way. It’s not about reducing the types of activity the centre operates from.”

On the roles Coun Taylor described it as a “flexible” approach based on “bespoke need”. He added: “Some shows are light in terms of technical support, some require additional technicians and some organisations bring their own teams. We’ll be able to cater for these teams.

“I believe this can support and enhance the offer of the South Holland Centre, secure its future to provide arts, culture, live performance and cinema for the residents of the area.”

In the vote, 17 councillors voted for, six against and there were two abstentions.