Huge grant to help Stockton's pandemic-hit Globe Theatre restoration
A HERITAGE grant to help push the long-awaited Globe Theatre project over the line has been unveiled.
The Stockton High Street scheme will receive an extra £774,000 boost from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help cover costs and maintenance in the final stage of its renovation.
The Grade-II listed venue has been named one of 22 to benefit from a £13.5m “culture recovery fund” for projects facing increased costs or delays due to the pandemic.
Chiefs confirmed last week that the long-awaited £28m scheme was “on track” to be completed in late April.
Work at the 3,000 seater site has been more than a decade in the making – with spiralling costs and delays hitting the project since Stockton Council took it on in 2016.
A £4.5m chunk of the project’s cash already comes via the Heritage Lottery Fund with the rest coming via the council.
Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham welcomed the extra money to cover pandemic costs – but warned that the town’s cultural sector was suffering.
The Labour MP said: “A re-developed Globe Theatre will be a fantastic local attraction, bringing in big acts and drawing in visitors from across the country.
“One-off grants are welcome and will help cover certain costs but it is clear that the Government needs to support our cultural sector in a much more meaningful and sustainable way.”
Problems with the roof, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lifts, plumbing, toilet layout and drainage have all cropped up during the high street renovation.
Councillors agreed an extra £1.2m should be spent on the project last year in response to pandemic pressures – taking the total price tag to £27.9m before rental costs are taken into account.
Debate over the costs last summer saw fiery exchanges in meetings between Conservative and independent councillors and Labour chiefs.
At the time, Tory group leader Cllr Tony Riordan said: “Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that the way this project has been handled is an embarrassment and has continually failed the local taxpayer.”
Labour councillors hit back – saying covid had hit the project and the people of the borough wanted to see The Globe restoration completed.
Last year, officials said social distancing regulations had reduced the workforce on the high street renovation from 100 to 30.
Bosses are relying on the project bringing an extra 200,000 visitors to the town centre every year when it’s finished to give an £18m boost to Stockton’s economy.
But opponents have shared doubts about the forecasts.
When it’s complete, the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) will run the venue in a 25-year lease agreement with the council.
Council director Richard McGuckin told the latest place select committee of encouraging ticket sales – adding chiefs had their “fingers crossed” about the role the pandemic would play in the Globe’s early months.
Mr McGuckin said: “Currently, the theatre is programmed from the third week of June onwards.
“We will just have to wait and see how we emerge from lockdown and what that allows live entertainment spaces to be able to do.”
Councillor Bob Cook, Leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: “This is welcome news and we’re very grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their unwavering support of the Globe restoration, which will bring this famous and much-loved venue back into use. We’re currently awaiting details of the conditions attached to the funding and are advised by Government that these will follow at a later date