The damage to the Grade II listed Derby Hippodrome that occurred on 28 March 2008 prompted the national organisation, The Theatres Trust, to say it ‘represents the worst case it has encountered since the Trust was established by Parliament in 1976.’

As of 17 July 2009, the Derby Hippodrome Restoration Fund has been established with the purpose of seeing the Hippodrome rebuilt and restored to use. The Fund is being helped by professionals in the entertainment, planning, historic buildings and legal industries. The immediate objective is to persuade the Councillors on the Planning Committee that the building has a better future for all as a theatre rather than a car park, which is the proposal they are considering.

The Chair of the Fund says: “The 58 objections posted on the council planning website against the proposal to convert the building into yet another car park give an idea of the strength of feeling among local people who want to save this important building. There would be many more objections if people hadn’t been misinformed that it was either too late or the cost too prohibitive to restore. We say it’s not too late, we don’t need another car park, but we do need a large theatre. The City Council is prosecuting the owner for damaging a listed building without authorisation, but we urge the Authority to be mindful of Government expectations to use its powers to protect this and all listed buildings.”

Derby is missing out on offering the complete cultural experience to local people and visitors to the City by not having its own major theatre capable of staging, in the right environment, plays, touring musicals, concerts, operas and ballet. Instead people travel to Nottingham and even Buxton to see what they cannot have in Derby. The City is losing huge cultural and financial investments.

The Derby Heritage and Environment Association for Residents and Traders, derbyHEART ”welcomes the restoration of the Hippodrome as a positive step in maintaining our heritage. It will form an essential beacon for the redevelopment of the Becketwell and Green Lane areas as well as providing an indispensible cultural centre for the City.” The Hippodrome was fortunately not “destroyed” by the damage done to it in March 2008 and much of it is perfectly sound. The Fund has calculated that the cost of restoration will be substantially less than that of a new building.

The immediate need is for the building to be protected against another winter, something that is neither complicated nor too expensive. We will be urging the Council to appeal to the relevant national external organisations to help carry out this urgent work.

For further information on the Hippodrome see: www.derbyhippodrome.co.uk Email us at: action@derbyhippodrome.co.uk  Write to us at: PO Box 7824, DERBY, DE1 0TQ