
Reigate theatre Raac concrete repairs of £4.5m approved
The theatre is expected to be ready to welcome back audiences by 2027.The funds will allow for the removal of all Raac from within the building and for other essential works that will allow it to reopen at its previous capacity, the council said. The sum approved for repairs falls significantly short of the £10m the council had been considering, which would have included major upgrades to the building, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The council ruled against a quicker fix option that would have kept the Raac in place and required regular safety inspections, opting instead for the longer – but longer lasting – removal.Plans for a second performing arts and culture building in the town were approved earlier in July. The council has been advised to appoint a specialist company to market and seek expressions of interest for the Harlequin Theatre to be run by a third-party operator.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Major UK retail chain to DEMOLISH ‘ghost town' store after collapsing into administration
The store is one of five commercial properties due to be knocked down TORN APART Major UK retail chain to DEMOLISH 'ghost town' store after collapsing into administration Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MAJOR UK retail chain is poised to knock down a 'ghost town' branch after the firm fell into administration. The Wilko store located on Kirkgate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is earmarked for demolition so the southern entrance to the city centre can be redeveloped. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The Wilko store on Kirkgate in Wakefiled has been earmarked for demolition Credit: Local Democracy Reporting Service The outlet shut its doors in 2023 after the high street chain of homestores went into administration. It is one of five commercial properties in the area that are due to be knocked down. They will be replaced with new homes and business units as part of a wider scheme by the local council to regenerate the area. Mini Market, Mattress and Divan Centre, Sweet Sensations and Hi Sushi are the other retail outlet set to be flattened as part of the plans. Wakefield Council was given nearly £25million worth of funding for the scheme from the government's Towns Fund in 2019. The work was approved following a planning proposal which had been submitted by the council but a planning officer's report said a further application would have to be submitted before the site could be redeveloped. Lower Kirkgate is a key route to get to the waterfront and is considered a major gateway to the city centre. The council had previously called the area a 'blight' on the city, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. It is also hoped that the redevelopment will encourage 'younger professionals' to live in the city centre and "bring year-round day and evening vibrancy" to the area, according to the council. Wilko closed its doors for good in 2023 after nearly a century in business, with more than 400 stores shutting and 12,000 staff affected. Visiting the new Wilko Store The news comes after the homeware giant Wayfair slashed its UK workforce by more than half in just two years, as it grapples with tumbling sales and a sharp drop in profit. The US-based furniture retailer, which operates across Britain, cut staff numbers from 847 in 2022 to just 405 by the end of 2024, according to fresh filings with Companies House. Wilko isn't the only retailer feeling the pinch on the high street. Furniture favourite collapsed into administration in 2022 after failing to find a buyer, leading to hundreds of job losses. Habitat also shut down all standalone stores in 2021, moving exclusively online after years of underperformance. Even major players have been forced to adapt. Argos has continued to reduce its physical footprint, shutting dozens of standalone shops and moving into parent company Sainsbury's stores to save costs. Retail experts say changing consumer habits, rising costs and weaker demand are continuing to batter the home and furniture sector. Many shoppers have tightened their belts amid soaring bills and higher interest rates, with big-ticket items like sofas and beds often the first to be cut from household budgets. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."


BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
Barnsley Burger King plan rejected over health fears
Plans for a drive-thru Burger King have been rejected because of concerns about the impact on public scheme would have seen the fast food restaurant built at the southern end of the Tesco site on Wombwell Lane in Barnsley Council officers said the site was less than 1,314 ft (400m) from a primary school and was in an area where childhood obesity levels were already too planning guidelines restrict the number of hot food takeaways that can be built in some areas, to help promote healthier lifestyles. The application outlined plans for a 2,497 sq ft (232 sq m) restaurant with associated landscaping, parking, and refuse facilities, according to the Local Democracy Reporting addition to health concerns, planners criticised the design of the building, which they said was "over-dominating". Officers also warned that noise, fumes and vibration from vehicles queuing could negatively affect the retail park's appearance and have an impact on nearby applicant has six months to appeal the council's decision. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North


Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Brian Cox is spellbinding in James Graham's most definitive drama yet
Make It Happen, an eye-catching curtain-raiser to the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival theatre programme, is the latest opus from our foremost political playwright, James Graham. It also brings Succession star and Dundee-born acting titan, Brian Cox, back to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade. While the play is a triumph, its sobering focus – the tenure of Fred Goodwin as CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland – will offer little fillip to Edinburghian pride. Established in the city in 1727, RBS was one of the world's biggest banks to founder in the 2008 financial crash, bailed out by Gordon Brown's government to the tune of £45bn. Far from seeming parochial or passé, this play feels like a belated, vital invitation for us all to reflect on the debacle, which saw Goodwin stripped of his knighthood. 'Fred the Shred' – as the reputedly ruthless executive was nicknamed – is played by Sandy Grierson, while Cox incarnates the 'ghost of fiscal past': the 18th-century Scottish economist – and here, Goodwin's hero – Adam Smith. Over two hours, weaving fact and fiction, the production charts the course of RBS's rise and fall, from Goodwin's arrival there in 1998 to the bail-out emergency, with Cox providing a more satirical element as a fitfully appearing Smith. As such, the play examines the recklessness and inept regulation of the New Labour era, as well as – via Smith – the legacy of the Enlightenment. Graham has done it again – turned complex history into theatrical gold. And this may be his most essential work yet, because it identifies the source of the political upheaval that preoccupies his work (whether in This House, on the stage, or Brexit: The Uncivil War, on TV). Gordon Brown's regime – when boom turned to bust – may have battered the nation, but it put new force behind Graham's career. Brown is just one of the high-profile figures to emerge amid the finely co-ordinated ensemble, along with Alistair Darling, banker and baroness Shriti Vadera, and Laura Kuenssberg. Ideally, we'd see more of what went awry in the heart of government. But it's the nondescript, shadowy figure of Grierson's Goodwin who dominates the evening, empire-building in Edinburgh and determined to make corporate conquest after conquest. ('Make it Happen' was the company's adopted slogan, and it's frequently issued as a command to quivering staff.) Goodwin isn't represented as a panto villain. With director Andrew Panton harnessing up-tempo, apposite pop hits from the period, the play stresses the aspirational energy Goodwin strove to unleash, chiming with the can-do spirit of Scottish devolution (1998). But Grierson brings self-contained menace to the role besides an unnerving resemblance to Vladimir Putin. There's the odd light touch of Carry On – bonking sessions in an office cupboard – but the dominant reference is Greek tragedy, the chorus stalking, Fury-like, a figure who becomes almost mythic in his hubris. There's a quality of madness, then, to the apparition of Cox's economic grandee. The actor initially – gamely – plays himself, reluctantly recruited for a pop-up corporate entertainment. Later, the bewigged sage appears, as if surreally summoned by Goodwin's modern-day Faust, indulging in campy asides and marvelling at the 21 st century. But he increasingly becomes a figure of conscience-pricking disapproval, dismayed that Goodwin hasn't fully digested his writings. The moral of Graham's story? Substance always trumps style, and if you're at the apex of power, you need to do your homework. Rachel Reeves: take note.