Great news for campaign
As seen on the front page of Fridays Mercury and on HFM and BBC Radio Leiceter, there has been a big move forward in the campaign.
First of all we have handed in the petition to the council. In total 8,000 peope have now signed the petition making it the biggest one seen in the town for several decades. Thank you to eveybody who took the time to visit this site or sign their name up in the shops. There have been hundreds of people including shop owners who have made this possible.
The result of this pressure has helped us influence the councils position over a cinema. Three years ago when John Merryweather went to the council explaining the ecconomic arguments. At the time due to Government priorities, it was felt that housing and retal had to take priority over leisure and that even if a suitable site emerged, it would have to be given over to those uses. Now however, the council has said that this has changed. An independent report shows that the towns cinema population including the villages is actually 65,000 plus and that a cinema is a priority for the town and a small multi-screen would be viable.
More that that, the council is going to set up a Cinema Task Force with an aim of attracting a suitable property developer to the town prepared to set up a 4 screen in the town. The group will be made up of council staff as well as experts who have experiance of putting such plans together.
None of this would have happened without the campaign and the support of the people of the area.
Also discussed at the meeting was what do do about the lack of cinema facilities in the area and a seperate group was set up to look at short term measures. In particular, the group will look at making more of the existing Cinema Club in the town. There will be more news about this on the site in the future, including up to date listings shown at the Harborough Theatre, which may in future include a version of the ‘ABC Minors’ club!