Project to reopen Royston Picture Palace in chaos

The future of Royston Picture Palace is in doubt today, as councillors on the Royston Town Council Finance Committee voted against motions put forward by the Cinema working party to reopen the cinema.

The Town council meeting room was crowded with public observers, including two speakers: Emma Daintrey, representative of CADS and Tom Empson, a cinema volunteer.

Councillors from the Royston Town Party and Conservatives voted against proposals to maintain the Picture Palace website and to publish legal advice, as put forward by the working party, to reopen the cinema. 

The proposal to secure the services of the website creator, to upgrade and manage the existing Picture Palace website for a nominal fee, was blocked. The alternative, to create a new website would be costly and delay the reopening of the cinema. They also refused to grant permission for a summary of the legal advice to be provided to non-Councillor members of the Cinema working party. This restriction negatively impacts the operation of the working party and prevents key stakeholders; Royston First BID, cinema volunteers and programme management from having all the relevant information. None of the Councillors who voted against providing this legal advice, spoke at the meeting to explain their reasons.

The council appointed a cross party group, including Liberal Democrat councillors Ruth Brown and Emma Squire-Smith and Labour councillor Stephen Lockett, to the Cinema working party in April 2023. The group have been working alongside two members of the public and representatives of Royston First BID to investigate options for reopening the cinema. The project has faced several delays, due to the financial regulations councils have to abide by when procuring services, whilst the election periods meant the group was unable to meet.

Despite the Town Council appointing a working party to investigate solutions to reopen the cinema, two proposals were submitted from outside of the working party, without their prior knowledge. One proposal was for the Council to investigate employing a cinema manager; during the meeting Councillor Squire-Smith revealed that this was something that had already been raised within the working party and that work should have already started to investigate such an option, several months ago. A further motion proposed the council purchase the cinema equipment and seating from Royston First BID. The BID have been active members of the working party and are keen to see the cinema reopen. Councillor Brown detailed how the BID have supported the Picture Palace in the past and the key role they have played in the operation of the cinema, including providing funding to enable it to stay open for an additional six months in 2023, whilst a more permanent solution was found.

Emma Squire-Smith said “When the Cinema working party was appointed in April 2023 there were councillors from all political groups involved and the council was aligned in wanting to see the cinema reopen. Since then significant time and effort has gone into investigating the options for the cinema. However, Monday night’s meeting has proved that certain groups within the council wish to politicise the cinema and went as far as blocking two motions proposed by the cinema working party. I am hugely disappointed as the cinema is a key community asset and am firmly of the belief that councillors should be working together for the good of the town.”

Ruth Brown said “My Councillor colleagues Emma Squire-Smith, Stephen Lockett and I remain strongly committed to continuing our work, in partnership with the BID and other stakeholders, to re-open Royston Picture Palace at the earliest opportunity.”