Blatant hypocrisy! Liberal democrats
claim
to support young people's drama
while
closing their venue.
Mental health professionals recognise the power of the performing arts in boosting young people’s confidence, self esteem and emotional well-being.
This is especially important for deprived children in Britain’s left-behind post-industrial areas, such as the remote Furness peninsula.
Although remote, Furness is not (or at least has not been until recently) a cultural desert, and had a thriving grassroots youth performing arts scene until the council closed the Forum, which is the main theatre of the Barrow area.
The political situation behind this closure is depressing. The local authority is Westmorland and Furness Council. The authority came into existence in 2023, and things have not worked out well, primarily because Westmorland and Furness are very different areas historically, culturally and politically.
Westmorland is the dominant power with an electorate composed of the prosperous rural middle class, who predominantly vote Liberal Democrat. Westmorland’s road and rail communications are good, whereas the Furness peninsula’s communications are poor.
Furness is post-industrial with areas of severe deprivation
The coastal isolation effect is
extreme,
as the town is
on a peninsula surrounded
on three sides by the Irish sea.
There are no Liberal Democrat wards in Furness, so consequently there is no representation in the council cabinet, and all decisions regarding Furness are handed down without consultation from Kendal, the county town of Westmorland. It is against this background that there was a furious backlash when the exclusively Liberal Democrat cabinet announced that they were closing and demolishing the Forum theatre in Barrow.
The council has no plans to replace the theatre, and if funds were ever to become available it is unlikely that a replacement could be up and running in less than three, and more likely five years.
Of course it is theoretically possible to build a thousand-seater theatre in less than a year. The Victorians built Blackpool Grand in nine months from greenfield site to opening night. But then the Victorians could do things that modern Britons can’t, such as build railways.
The Furness community’s grassroots tradition of young people’s theatre is going to be hit worse than the adult groups, since continuity will be lost and a generation will grow up with no experience of performing in a real theatre environment. Meanwhile the youth drama groups will have disappeared.
The Liberal Democrats need to understand, if they care at all, that a child’s perception of time is different from an adult’s. We often forget that time is relative and subjective. When you're a middle aged councillor, a three year wait is acceptable. But to a nine year old child, three years is a third of a lifetime. What for an adult is an inconvenient delay, is for a child an irretrievable loss of learning and development opportunities. In future the children of Furness will be deprived of experiences regarded as a normal part of growing up by previous generations.
REFERENCES
Barrovians young and old
express a very vocal
opposition to the
destruction of their
Sadness and anger as
Barrow reacts to Forum
Local groups won’t
survive theatre closure
Furious and
heartbroken’ – Barrow performers
backlash
at council plans to demolish
Thousand seater
Blackpool Grand Theatre
User
Requirements for a Performing
Arts Centre
FACEBOOK
GROUP - No
Demolition without