Criterion in Gosport labelled 'theatre of uncosted dreams' in council budget row

Gosport Borough Council’s budget for the next financial year could see residents paying 2.99 per cent more council tax.

The rise is in response to continuing inflationary and demand pressures amounting to £1.5m – the council is ‘required’ to ‘make substantial savings for the coming financial year’.

The budget also focuses on the regeneration of the town centre while ‘defending Gosport’s heritage’ through the council’s purchase of the former Criterion Cinema with the aim of bringing it back as a multi-purpose entertainment venue.

Conservative councillor Graham Burgess, leader of the opposition said the budget allows the council leader to pursue ‘his theatre of uncosted dreams’ which he calls a ‘white elephant’.

He said: ‘A white elephant that cost 50 per cent more to buy than the person who bought it just a few months earlier. This is the old, dilapidated bingo hall, The Criterion and on what basis?

‘We have never been presented with a business case, all finances involved such as surveys, cost of renovation and its uses, all these meetings being held in a veil of secrecy behind closed doors.

‘This administration’s budget is not a budget for the people of Gosport, it is designed around the whim of the leader, his theatre of uncosted dreams.

‘This is the highest Gosport Council tax ever set by any administration and for what?’

Councillor Peter Chegwyn, leader of the Liberal Democrat administration said the budget is the best Gosport has seen ‘in over 25 years’.

‘Gosport’s council tax increase will be just 11p a week for an average Band B property, one of the lowest in England,’ he said.

‘We are investing in our heritage by saving The Criterion Cinema and by bringing it back into use as a much-needed, multi-purpose arts and community centre.

‘Gosport’s Conservatives don’t believe in defending Gosport’s heritage, they prefer to support their property developer friends who wish to knock down old buildings and put high-rise luxury flats in their place.

‘It’s a key plank in our plans to breathe new life into Gosport after years of decay and decline under the previous Conservative administration.’