NEXT week, January 25  the Teignbridge Planning Committee will decide whether to grant consent for the construction of the council’s own proposal for a new four-screen cinema on the site of New Look and the former Shaul’s Bakery in the Market Square, Newton Abbot, writes architect Jeremy Newcombe.

The council accept that the building as proposed will ‘SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE SETTING of the grade ll listed Alexandra Theatre and Market Hall’, but they say that the public benefit of a new cinema will outweigh the harm to the setting of the listed building which they consider to be of ‘medium value’. 

Many, like those in the Alexandra Theatre Community Benefit Society (CBS), will strongly disagree with the Council’s view and believe that the historic Alexandra and Market Hall are of high value to the character and heritage of Newton Abbot and that the damage to its setting and its possible future use is unacceptable and contrary to both the Council’s own and National planning policies. 

The CBS believe that the Council’s view is misguided; the Local Plan does refer to the possibility of a new cinema in the town centre but not to its size or to this specific location; the Local Plan was adopted several years ago, before the pandemic and the exponential growth of Netflix and other streaming services which have transformed the public’s viewing habits. 

The viability of a four-screen cinema to replace the present two-screen facility is unproven and the supposed public benefit has never been assessed. 

All that exists is a rather vacuous ‘Statement of Community involvement’ produced late in the day to accompany the planning application and a paper by outside consultants ESS which concludes that the cinema ‘is likely to be commercially viable, providing it is event driven, community focused and there is ample ancillary and complementary offers and services available within the vicinity of the proposed site’. 

What is meant by these conditions on its viability and do Scott Cinemas have any intention of delivering them? 

The risk that the cinema, having been built, will not be viable would be extremely serious because there is unlikely to be any alternative use and this big ‘white elephant’ would dominate the town and the adjacent listed building until money was found to demolish it. Newton deserves better than this! 

If you share these concerns then please express them to Teignbridge planning on applications ref.22/01130/LBC and 22/01129/MAJ before it is too late.