Films not viable

The nation has been going through a period of austerity and funding of local government has been cut by over 30 per cent since 2010 and will be cut by another 10 per cent in the next couple of years.

The Windmill, over the last seven years, had been operating with an average audience of only 30 patrons using the cinema six times a week and losing more than £120,000 of taxpayers’ money per year.

This is not just Littlehampton residents’ money, but Arun district’s as a whole.

The Windmill cinema operation was just not sustainable in these straitened times.

The other cinemas mentioned in the article are not subsidised by the taxpayer, so the arrangements currently being put together for a Cinema Club will be good value for the taxpayer.

Many other communities in the district rely on the community model to provide local cinema, so to dismiss the efforts being made to provide a club makes an easy headline, but does not address the financial reality.

Within Arun District Council’s leisure strategy there are plans to encourage and investigate a commercial mini-plex cinema in the centre of Littlehampton which, if viable will be a key tourist asset, as well as providing a valuable service for residents.

Tough decisions have to be made – to avoid these would be negligent in the extreme.

This is not an easy message to convey, but a necessary one.

Councillor Paul Dendle, cabinet member for the environment, Arun District Council

Burpham