UPDATE – This piece of legislation has now been dropped from the government’s legislative agenda.

From The Stage

The Theatres Trust is to be given greater involvement in the protection of historic buildings through an amendment to the heritage bill, which could prevent a repetition of incidents such as the partial destruction of Derby Hippodrome.

Under the amendment, which has been recommended by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the organisation will be made a statutory consultee within the Heritage Protection Bill.

This will mean that local authorities and venues will be legally required to consult the Trust when changes are proposed to listed theatres, and could boost the power it has to stop major alterations to buildings such as the Hippodrome.

Mark Price, Theatres Trust planning and architecture advisor, welcomed the news. He said that up until now, the organisation was only consulted on alteration work that required planning permission.

Price explained: “This has been an anomaly for some years. The point is that a listed theatre could be gutted, or have its balcony taken out, and we would not necessarily be consulted, whereas we might be consulted for a flag pole because it requires planning permission. It’s quite ridiculous. This will clear up that loophole.”

He believes that if the recommendation is incorporated into the legislation, the Trust will be more effective in protecting historic theatre buildings, will be better able to provide assistance on redecoration schemes using its stock of 3,000 records and 30,000 images, and advise on controversial cases.

… read the rest at www.thestage.co.uk