CASEWORK 

The role of the CTA Casework Committee is to provide input on the future of traditional cinema buildings in this country, particularly if they are listed. Casework Chairman Richard Gray explains...

It is extremely difficult to dictate to an operator who is determined to close down his cinema, as witness the recent demise of the Odeon, York. But by using the planning system intelligently and especially that appertaining to listed structures, it is very often possible to influence what happens to the actual buildings. It doesn't always work of course, as with the Palace, Southport, which came down earlier this year despite its Grade II listing. But I am pleased to say that these cases are rare as, in general, listing works.

There are 191 listed cinemas in England of which 26 have a Grade II* rating for their completeness. Of these eleven are located outside London. Of all listed cinemas the proportion of those at Grade II* level is more than twice the national average, which must say something for cinema architecture as a whole. Cinemas might change their use but if listed they invariably survive, hopefully to once again become full time pictures houses, as with the Rex at Berkhamsted. Obtaining listing for cinema buildings is an important part of our function and retaining a high standard of selection underpins the high reputation of the Association as an expert organisation.

We have had victories in the past, such as winning a public enquiry over the Savoy at Northampton. Here, instead of the interior being ripped out, we managed to preserve the balcony with the building now an evangelical church, and including some recent performance use while the Derngate Centre has been closed for refurbishment. A more recent success is the retention of the complete auditorium at the Odeon/Coronet, Eltham Well Hall. This might easily had have become a glass-roofed office space but for our intervention and, while the building is likely to now become a children's play space, it might conceivably have some future film or community performance use which the previous plans would have made impossible. Another minor milestone lately is the up-grading of the Cameo in Edinburgh, which achieved considerable media interest in the city.

The casework function started some years back with me bashing out letters to local authorities and other bodies, such as English Heritage, but some three years ago now we took on Eva Branscome to help, for which she is paid, leaving much of the background pro-active work for me to do voluntarily. We also have considerable unpaid input from others on the committee; Jon Williams deals with Welsh cases - the Palace, Conwy has recently been listed after a 12-year campaign - and the CTA's long-time Honorary Secretary Adam Unger has been much involved on London casework concerns. We are fortunate to also have guidance from a trained planner and an architectural historian of national stature on the committee.

We handled more than 40 cases during 2005, doubling that of the previous year, and we now have CTA Scotland in the form of Gordon Barr and Gary Painter, who have taken forward the casework function north of the border. Advice is also provided on cinema buildings for the main national architectural amenity groups: The Twentieth Century Society, The Theatres Trust and where appropriate, the Victorian Society and the Ancient Monuments Society. CTA members who become aware of threats to cinema buildings are welcome to contact Eva or myself by e-mail - these can be found on the Contact Us Page.

Listed Cinema information and the latest Casework Reports can be found on the Latest page.