Save The Cinema – Deadline 14th Sept!

Want to save Walthamstow’s last cinema?

You have until the 14th of September to submit your objections to the UCKG’s planning application.

This is the last chance – if the application is accepted the cinema will be lost forever.

See below for details from the Save Our Cinema campaign – Visit their website for the latest:

Waltham Forest Council will shortly decide the fate of the borough’s last working cinema, the beautiful and unique EMD on Walthamstow’s Hoe Street. Although several cinema operators are actively interested in reviving the venue, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) want to convert it for mainly church use despite having previous plans rejected by the government.

If local councillors approve their new planning application, the cinema is lost forever.

If you support reviving the cinema as a place of entertainment for the benefit of the whole community then now is the time to act.

Three easy steps to objecting to the UCKG’s planning application for the EMD/Granada Cinema:

You have until 14 September to get objections to plans by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) to turn the Grade II* listed, historic EMD (formerly Granada) cinema on Hoe Street into a church forever. Please get your objection in urgently and make it count! Here’s how to do it in three quick steps…

1. Address your letter:

Objections need to be in writing or email to: The Planning Officer, Development Management, Sycamore House, Town Hall Complex, Forest Road, London, E17 4JF OR jon.price@walthamforest.gov.uk

Please make sure you include the application number (2009/1048 & 2009/1049/LB) and address of the EMD (186 Hoe Street, The Victoria Public House and 186A/186B Hoe Street, E17) in all correspondence.

Your objection must reach the council by 14 September to count. Please do not delay.

2. Make your letter count:

• By all means be passionate about the cinema, but please remain polite (and never abusive) to maximise the impact your letter will have on planning officers and the planning committee.
• Stick to planning grounds (see below for some examples). In particular, any personal views you have about the UCKG should not be included as they are not planning matters and will only lessen the impact your letter has with the people you want to persuade.
• Please use your own phrasing, style and experiences in making your objections – the more individual your letter is, the more impact it will have.

3. Some ideas on what to include:

You should express your own opinions and views in your own way – but please be aware that your comments must address legitimate planning concerns. Below are some ideas which could be included – select the ones you feel most comfortable using and remember to add your own.

• No change from the appeal: In 2003, the UCKG was refused permission for a change of use on the former Granada cinema by the Deputy Prime Minister. That decision can only be overturned if there is a “material” change in circumstances and there is not: Waltham Forest still has no cinema and, with no hope of development on the Arcade site in the short-to-medium term, no prospect of one either.
• Loss of the cinema: Despite the limited community facilities proposed in the application, the UCKG’s plans will permanently deprive the 225,000 residents of Waltham Forest of their only cinema. Waltham Forest already has over 200 places of worship.
• Listed status: According to Government planning guidelines, the first option for a Grade II* Listed building should be the purpose for which the building was designed, i.e. a cinema. The historical importance of the building, in a borough which was home to some of the first British film studios, and with its connections with Alfred Hitchcock – make the building unique. Its loss would deprive Waltham Forest of a major part of its heritage and potential tourism revenue.
• Viability: The building is viable as a cinema. It did not close because of falling attendances; but because the UCKG bought it. The Managing Director of the Picturehouse chain has declared they are interested in the building and that it could be viable as a cinema again. Picturehouse is the largest and most successful independent cinema chain in the UK and runs successful cinemas in similar listed buildings and areas – for example, the Ritzy in Brixton.
• Economic vitality of the area: A re-opened cinema would boost Walthamstow town centre’s night time economy. The UCKG’s plans will not. The Planning Inspector in the 2003 appeal visited the UCKG’s largest UK centre in Finsbury Park and said: “Nothing in the commercial life of that area appeared to benefit from the UCKG Helpcentre.”
• Duplication of facilities: The community facilities proposed by the UCKG would compete with facilities already available in the area. There is no shortage of cafes, restaurants, community rooms or meeting spaces in the immediate vicinity. The proposed performance space and screening room (the “Centre Hall”) would be in direct competition with the nearby Rose and Crown public house’s space. There is also no demand for a Christian bookshop in this area – a similar operation, at 150 Hoe Street, went out of business early in 2009 after less than a year’s trading.
• Management of community facilities: The UCKG’s proposals contain no guarantee that the community facilities will be managed independently. The UCKG proposes to set up its own management organisation comprising of one councillor, two members of the public and an unspecified number of UCKG representatives. This could see “community” facilities unusable by most of the community.
• Access to the main auditorium: The most renowned feature of the cinema is the main auditorium. Non-UCKG members would have almost no ability to enter this area, it would never be available for public hire. The UCKG state they will use it for special events and cite their use of the Finsbury Park Rainbow as an example. In the ten years the UCKG has owned the Rainbow, two films have been screened in its main auditorium.
• Lack of consultation: The UCKG have failed to engage with the people of Walthamstow in preparing plans – their exhibition ran for two days some distance away from the cinema. Materials didn’t use the word “church” and just one reference to “services”. Feedback forms only gave space to comment on restoration plans and community facilities – not on the application to change use from a cinema. The UCKG then submitted the application during summer holidays, when many residents will be away.
• Transport & parking: With four services a day, seven days a week, the scheme could massively worsen traffic and parking issues in an already busy area. The UCKG propose only to provide attendees information on public transport and encourage use of the Selbourne Walk car park – taking places intended for shoppers whose spending is essential to the local economy and who may go elsewhere if they are unable to park.

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