Theatre's concern as football pitch set to be approved

The manager of an open air theatre says he is disappointed that plans for artificial football pitches nearby have been recommended for approval, but wants to work to ensure the two sites can co-exist.

Brighton Open Air Theatre (Boat) says performances would be "essentially unviable" due to noise issues arising from proposed plans for pitches put forward by Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (Bhasvic).

Will Mytum, Boat's general manager, said that the plans would still affect unamplified performances despite mitigations put in place.

Plans for the pitches and multi-use game area go before Brighton & Hove City Council's planning committee on Wednesday.

Mytum said: "We think it will be incredibly disruptive to our operation and really put our theatre in jeopardy.

"We don't think the conditions would be acceptable to us. It would still clash with a lot of our performances.

"They are our neighbours, so if the plans are approved then we will have to work with them on it."

A report to the planning committee where the pitches were recommended for approval said they "would have the potential to result in significant disruption to Boat performances".

It added that "substantially reduced hours" put forward by Bhasvic could help to mitigate this, and early closures could be arranged "case by case between the applicant and Boat".

The report also said Boat had 125 performances scheduled, this year and the amended hours would mean the pitches would be in use at the same time on only seven occasions, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mytum said the theatre had put forward an alternative suggestion for time restrictions, which he hoped the planning committee would accept.

Brighton & Hove Planning Committee will meet at 14:00 BST on Wednesday, at Hove Town Hall.

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