Representatives of the Save Riverside campaign have criticised council’s “limp” support of the theatre, following a recent private meeting with Ulster University (UU) around the historic venue’s potential closure.
During a deputation at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s June’s meeting, Save the Riverside’s Steven Millar said he was “still a little bit puzzled about what’s happening right now with the theatre”, following the meeting between UU, who own the building, and council members on June 17.
“A proposed closure for July 31 is happening, and in my opinion there has been no public consultation at all,” he added. “A meeting happened but that was a closed meeting with no notes, so we’ve got no real way of knowing what happened in that room.”
“I believe, through the Coleraine Chronicle, that something was mentioned about £3 million to keep the theatre open for 10 years, so I believe the public deserves full access to the facts and I don’t think we’re getting that right now.
“I believe as my elected representatives you might want to go and chat to the university about that and see if you can get those facts and figures for us.
“I represent countless voices that have called me up, emailed me, and signed a petition to say how much they care about this building and how it just can’t disappear, especially when we’ve got no transparency from the university [and] councillors that go into a closed meeting and haven’t really come out with what’s actually happened.
“It doesn’t really provide a lot of faith and trust in our public sector, so what I would really hope for is an open meeting so that we really understand what’s going on and then we can actually come up with a viable solution.”
Mr Millar requested members contact UU around potentially leasing the theatre to a community group.
DUP councillor Darryl Wilson said he was “displeased and disappointed that closure seems to be on the table.”
“Council [has] seen, we have seen protests outside, requests for information, [and] claims of information not being disclosed from the council, [but] it’s not a council facility,” he said. “We will lobby, but the reality is it’s not a council facility, it’s UU’s.
“We have added our support to lobbying efforts, but the reality is that will [only] be lobbying efforts because I cannot foresee how or where we could go any further than that.”
Mr Millar replied: “I appreciate you saying that, but apart from a few people in this room the response has been pretty limp. I know that you [and UU] don’t want to pay for this building, it’s a shame that it’s been put on private citizens to sort this out, but unfortunately it has.
“In order for us to do that we need you to lobby UU to actually sit down and be open to leasing that building to a community trust. We can’t do that if we’ve got none of your support and right now, apart from a few individuals, I have not felt that support and neither has the community.”
PUP councillor Russell Watton said he carried out a straw poll of residents of the nearby Ballysally estate and two thirds of people he spoke with had “never darkened the door” of the Riverside.
“They’ve never darkened the door and have no intention of ever darkening the door,” he said. “So it might mean a lot to you and your trade, but it doesn’t mean a lot to ordinary working people.”
Alliance councillor Lee Kane said the recent meeting with UU was not a “secret meeting”.
“There were commercially sensitive things discussed in that meeting, and there’s a reason why it has to be discussed in that way,” he concluded. “There’s a challenge to that and we have to accept that challenge, but there are reasons why conversations have to happen in that way.”
Andrew Balfour, Local Democracy Reporter