TAITMAIL. Theatres losing trust
It could hardly have been a more appropriate way for the Theatres Trust, the national advisory body for theatres involved in the planning process, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Thanks to its intervention with its unique expert advice, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cannock Chase will not, as expected, be closed but will instead be refurbished and reopened by the council’s new Reform-led administration.
“Through our engagement we have impressed upon the council the need to fully understand the benefits the theatre brings to the area and what the impact of its loss would have been” the trust said in a statement at the weekend. “We were recently commissioned by the new administration to provide more detailed expert insight into the different options for the theatre. We are delighted that the new cabinet has listened to this advice and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to progress plans to reopen the theatre and see it returned to the heart of the community.”
It might be the trust’s last such triumph.
Striving to cut away obstacles in the way of her £10bn housing policy as she pursues her quest to build 1.5m new homes in England in three years, housing secretary Angela Rayner has decided to remove the trust’s status as a statutory consultee as part of an “ambitious package of reforms”. It means that English local authorities are no longer legally obliged to notify the Theatres Trust when planning applications involving theatre buildings are submitted.
The Theatres Trust was set up in 1976 by Act of Parliament to "promote the better protection of theatres for the benefit of the nation" by “protecting and preserving theatre buildings by providing specialist advice to a variety of stakeholders throughout Britain to assist with the promotion and preservation of theatre buildings”. It is largely funded by income from the three West End theatres it was gifted as the legacy of the old Greater London Council, so it has received no taxpayer’s money to do its statutory duty.
Its central aim, according to the Theatres Trust Act, is to "ensure that current and future generations have access to good quality theatres that reflect our cultural life and offer inspiring places to enjoy theatre".
"The government recognises the long-standing role of the Theatres Trust in the planning process and the value of theatres as important cultural assets" said the housing department’s statement this week. "The government believes the Theatres Trust can continue its key role in the planning application process without being a statutory consultee."
Quite how when it does not have to be consulted the statement does not enlarge upon.
Unsurprisingly planners have welcomed the decision that means they don’t have to take advice from the theatre experts ever again. It will mean not simply that local authorities needn’t worry about troublesome theatre buildings, it goes much wider than that. The trust’s Instagram account gives a less stuffy summary of what it sees its duty to have been: “We champion the future of live performance, by protecting and supporting excellent theatre buildings which meet the needs of their communities”. There we are: they are an essential part of the communities Rayner is so eager to preserve, and in the consultation process only 8% of the thousand questioned approved of the proposal.
There have been scores of successes for the trust over the last half century - and some failures too – but would any of these survivals have happened without the Theatres Trust?
Particularly notable successes resulting from the trust’s advice include one that Prime Minister Andy Burnham will be very well aware of. In 2008 the trust was asked to give advice on proposals to relocate Manchester’s Library Theatre, but ambitions grew beyond that. Instead, with the support of the trust’s expertise, the old theatre was included with a cinema and the Cornerhouse Arts Centre to make a big new cultural centre which opened in 2015 as Home. It has become a major hub for the performing arts the North West which in 2019-20 added £11.2m to the local economy, with DCMS calculating that it had improved mental health in the area and saved the NHS £1m a year.
Alexandra Palace (pictured) is one of London’s oldest theatres designed as a “Palace of the People” to provide entertainment and recreation for the masses, opening with great fanfare in 1873. Its chequered history began at the start with the theatre burning down a couple of weeks later, to be immediately rebuilt and reopened in 1875 offering a mixture of cinema and live performance. But with audiences dwindling for this fairly remote part of North London it closed in 1934. Then it was host to the BBC and then the Open University before closing again in 1981 and sliding into disrepair.
Ally Pally went on the trust’s Theatres At Risk Register in 2006 – the register is updated every year - and a campaign was launched to save it, the trust supporting the Alexandra Park and Charitable Trust. The campaign realised £33m and the theatre reopened in December 2018 after a six-year renovation programme.
The Prince of Wales Theatre opened in Cannock Chase in 1984 to replace the old Forum Theatre, before that the Hippodrome. It’s not a particularly distinguished piece of theatre architecture, seating around 400, offering musical and live events as well as drama, but the local authority’s survey of its leisure activities in 2025 saw a potential saving of £1.3m a year by closing it, which it did in April 2025. At that point it went on the trust’s At Risk Register, and then the decision was made to demolish it as part of a town centre regeneration scheme. The trust’s guidance had to be sought.
Last week, thanks to the trust’s expert advice, the decision was reversed from demolition to refurbishment. "Our residents and town centre shop owners told us they want a thriving theatre, so we are doing the right thing for our community" said the council’s new deputy leader Richard Craddock. "We could not have stood by and seen it razed to the ground – that would have ripped the cultural heart out of our district."
So Angela Rayner should think again, maybe consult with her good friend Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary. We need land to build all those much-needed homes, for sure, but not necessarily scorched earth.
Simon Tait.