No, no, no, no '“ fight begins to save cinema screen

Members of the town council's planning and licensing committee decided on Tuesdayto protest against the proposals for the Picturedrome.

Ken Scutt said: "This would be a desecration of the cinema.

"It's the only purpose-built place of entertainment we have in the town and in the district.

"Putting flats where the big screen is would destroy the building's historic integrity."

Fellow committee member Jeanette Warr said: "This is definitely a no, no, no and many times no."

Jennifer Gillibrand, also a member of the committee, said: "I never thought we would be sitting here discussing losing our cinema."

Committee chairman Stephen Kerrigan said the loss of the main screen would damage the town's regeneration masterplan agreed by Arun District Council.

This envisaged a caf quarter based around the cinema on Canada Grove and the railway station with commercial-led evening leisure ventures.

The committee also agreed to object because the removal of the 400-seat auditorium to leave just the 87-seat small screen upstairs and the caf would cost jobs and hit tourism.

They also said the three flats proposed to replace the venue's main attraction, added to the refurbishment of an existing flat, would be an over-development of the site and wreck the building's historic value.

Their objections will be passed to Arun to consider when it decides the matter at a date yet to be set.

Before the committee's debate, some of the 30 or so cinema supporters who attended the town hall meeting spoke out against the conversion plans.

Jo Miles said: "I've lived in Canada Grove for seven years and I've seen two major flat-building projects there in that time. To lose the cinema as well would be criminal."

Paul Heselton said: "The cinema is a small thing that Bognor offers and it should stay.

"There are so many flats in the town it is ridiculous.

"We are going to have too many flats with nothing for the residents to do."

The planning application for the conversion and related listed building consent has been made by the cinema's owner, Bognor Pier Company.

Its planning agent, Paul Langridge, has said Bognor had no need for an old-fashioned cinema when more successful multiplexes existed nearby.

Creating the flats would preserve the building better than allowing it to remain as a cinema. The proposals would restore the appearance of the building to its original 1885 construction as the New Assembly Halls. It was 34 years before it was converted into a cinema.

Other work to the building has been done since.

But the government gave the structure Grade II listed status last month because of its historic interior and the fact it represents 'an entertainment building in a traditional seaside landscape'.

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