The Theatres Trust has today formally written to Salford City Council to oppose proposals to demolish the Grade 2 listed Crown Theatre in Eccles.

The Trust, which is the national advisory public body for theatres, is objecting to plans to flatten the building, originally opened in 1899 as the Lyceum Theatre, before becoming a cinema in 1932 and later, the Crown Bingo hall, before shutting in the 1980s.

The Crown was formally Grade 2 listed in 2003 when Ty Jeffries – son of mega famous actor, Lionel Jeffries – who was living in Canterbury Gardens in Eccles, fought Salford Council to get the building recognised, as speculators began talking of demolition to make way for apartments.

Now formal proposals have gone into the Council to demolish the Crown, and to build 95 one and two bedroom unaffordable flats, with retail and `community space’. Historic England has already formally opposed the plans, joining Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, Eccles councillors and the Save The Crown Theatre Eccles community group (see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here).

The Theatres Trust is opposing the Crown’s demolition “as it results in the complete loss of a designated Grade 2 heritage asset and does not provide adequate replacement community or cultural facilities to compensate for the loss of the building”.

The Trust “reluctantly” supported an application in 2008 for redevelopment of the site which retained the building’s facade. However, now that this previous planning permission has expired, and “there has been significant community support to retain and redevelop the former theatre into a multi-purpose community and cultural facility”, it is opposing any new moves at demolition.

The application, by Indigo Planning, on behalf of Foregate Limited, proposes to flatten the whole building, arguing that the decorative front façade has no value without the theatre interior. The Trust is objecting to this, stating “that the theatre’s exterior is as important as the interior”; that it is “extremely important to the historic significance of the heritage asset as a whole, and to the character of the area”; and that “the façade should therefore, at a minimum, be retained and refurbished as part of any redevelopment of the site”…It adds that “we would expect any redevelopment of the site to respect the special architectural and historic significance of the listed building”.

National planning policy (NPPF) states that Grade 2 listed buildings should not be harmed `unless it can be demonstrated that the substantial harm or loss is necessary to achieve substantial public benefits that outweigh that harm or loss’. The Trust comments that it “does not believe that there is any public benefit resulting from the complete loss of the heritage asset and the application fails to satisfy the NPPF requirements for the historic environment“.

Finally, the Trust is “concerned” about the `community space’ that the developers have promised for part of the new development, which has had no community consultation whatsoever…

“You will be aware that there is now considerable local community support to retain the theatre building as a community and cultural centre” the Trust states “The application does not provide an adequate replacement to compensate for the loss of the theatre as a community and cultural facility… the Trust is concerned the space will not be viable or usable and therefore little public benefit would be gained.”

The Theatres Trust concludes… “Given the proposal does not meet the historic and cultural requirements of the NPPF, and our concerns about harm to the heritage asset and the appropriateness of the replacement community and cultural space, the Trust is unable to support this application and we recommend it is refused…”

* To drum up even more local support, the Save The Crown Theatre campaign group will be outside the building 10am-2pm every Saturday.

See also the Help Save The Crown Theatre Facebook group – click here

Follow the campaign on Twitter @EcclesLyceum

* See also original Salford Star article Crown Theatre in danger of demolition – click here