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TOWN HALL POLITICS: The reason we have no modern cinema.
TOWN HALL POLITICS: The reason we have no modern cinema.

No big screen for very small minds

Vic Barlow
22/ 2/2006

YOU may have noticed I have abandoned my seven year long cinema campaign. Cineplex UK gave us our best chance back in 1999 when they submitted plans for a six-screen theatre complex at Lyme Green. Labour members of Macclesfield Borough Council thought it a wonderful idea, which virtually guaranteed it would never happen.

Macclesfield Tories promptly rejected the plan and refused to accept a 15,000-signature petition submitted to the town hall in its support insisting they would find a developer to build a cinema in the town centre.

Despite industry advice that town centre cinemas were financially unviable and the closure of local cinemas occurred for that very reason, the Tories ploughed ahead, but once the sums were done every developer they approached turned the idea down.

Meanwhile Cineplex UK sunk over £30K into their Lyme Green plans and submissions all of which were rebuffed by a Tory council determined not to allow Labour members to have their way.

You may think that a six-screen state-of-the-art cinema complex with stadium seating built on cheap land with ample parking close to a bowling alley and fast food restaurant was an excellent idea but town hall Tories were determined to prove otherwise. They presented the public with a number of alternative sites, none of which included Lyme Green.

Cineplex UK finally lost patience with town hall politics and moved on to more rewarding projects and with them went our last chance for a modern cinema.

Since then MBC have made promise after promise, none of which have been fulfilled. Our late great chief executive made continuous references to an 'unnamed' cinema developer. Of course, it wasn't easy to name a developer that didn't actually exist. There was much talk of a cinema where JJB now stands and more talk of a cinema as part of the Chicago Rock development but that's all it was... just talk.

To anyone with half a brain Lyme Green was the obvious choice. If families and kids could get to the bowling alley they could make it to the cinema. The land was crying out for development, parking was plentiful and the area badly in need of family leisure activities to counterbalance the growth of pubs and bars but it was not to be.

Once Labour councillors supported the idea Lyme Green was dead. Tories tied their flag to the wrong mast and refused to admit they got it wrong and residents could take their petition and drop it down the nearest grid. When it came to choosing between party politics and public good there was no contest.

Now we have more promises for a town centre cinema. It's the bait used by savvy developers to gain approval for other plans. Once the contract is in the bag you can bet they will trot out all the reasons for not building one.

There is only one reason we have no modern cinema: town hall politics.

  • THE views expressed on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.

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Most recent 2 of 2 user comments

   HOW COME YOU HAVE DINNER WITH WINTERTON BUT NEVER GET ANY REAL ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ITS VERY DIFFICULT TO SIT AT BOTH TABLES WHEN ONE LIVES IN A MILLION DOLLAR CASTLE OVER LOOKING THE RABBLE OF DOWNTOWN BATTLESFIELD..COME BARLOW SAY IT AND HAVE DONE WITH THE ISSUE IN STEAD OF PUSSY FOOTING AROUND WAITING FOR YOUR DINNER INVITATION..FLOWERS LORD TIM OF BIRTLES.
lord tim of birtles, paradis
25/02/2006 at 00:36
   what a great article, truthfull and to the point. I think that the actions of MBC is a disgrace, in years gone by macclesfield had several cinemas, which in the end finished with the majestic. the closing of such a beautiful building was a disgrace and what took its place was an establishment that was forever in the papers for underage booze fueled trouble. (which is now derelict).

I think its time mbc took notice of what people in this town actually want, instead of approving more new pubs....and turning old town buildings in to modern monstrosities. macclesfield used to be a proper market kind of town. Nowadays it seems all the old building fronts are dissapearing, in my view the fronts should be kept and repaired instead of being new build. WAKE UP MBC AS ITS THE PEOPLE OF THIS TOWN THAT PUT YOU IN YOUR COUNCILOR SEATS & IT WILL BE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT REMOVE YOU FROM THEM.

DAVE, MACC
23/02/2006 at 13:07
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