Plans to save Coventry’s Hippodrome from demolition by turning it into a civic hall are doomed to failure because the building will not be considered in a cultural strategy for the area.

DOOMED: THE HIPPODROME IS OFF THE AGENDA FOR THE CITY'S CULTURAL FUTURE

Campaigners are battling to save the former Coventry Theatre from the bulldozers, which are scheduled to move in during the summer to make way for the Phoenix Initiative in the city centre.

They have appealed to Coventry City Council officers responsible for drawing up a cultural strategy for the city to consider the Hippodrome as a potential site for a new civic hall in the town.

Early consultation for the strategy revealed that a number of different interest groups thought a new civic hall would be a good idea.

Officers are planning to get more views as to what form that could take, but will not be considering the Hippodrome.

The building has been ruled out because its fate has already been accounted for. It will not be considered in any strategy for the future because its future has already been decided.

The strategy is being drawn up under instructions from central government and must be completed by 2002.

Leisure Policy and Planning officer Andy Howitt said the aim is to provide a very broad framework for cultural development in the city.

It will give the council, companies, and voluntary groups a steer as to the kind of things the city is trying to achieve.

The fine detail: what kind of buildings and facilities are needed and where they should be will be filled in after the overall strategy is drawn up.

Mr Howitt said the need for a civic hall has been mentioned by several different groups, although it was not clear what that hall might consist of.

He said:

“People do think that there’s a need for a civic hall. It is something that we will be examining more.”

Michael Newman of the Hippodrome Appreciation Society has called for the building to be saved and used as a hall.

He said the number of different rooms in it would allow a diverse range of activities to take place.

Mr Newman said:

“It concerns me that just when the matter of a civic hall is being considered, the very building that is admirably suited to that purpose is threatened with demolition.

“While I can understand why the city council wants to get on with the competition of the Phoenix Initiative, those responsible for implementing it might well be about to destroy the very facility that could breathe new life into the city centre.

“Its replacement – a Millennium Clock set in the pavement of yet another public square can never enhance the fortunes of Coventry.”

SEE [07 DEC 00] GALA ADMITS DEFEAT IN HIPPODROME FIGHT