Swansong for The Studio?

11.34.39am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 8th Feb 2004

Angharad Waterfield (left) and Joanna Donnelly (right) spoke for the younger students who have lost the Studio for local arts and drama classes.

Despite only days' warning , Beckenham residents packed Beckenham Baptist Church Hall for a public meeting to discuss the future of The Studio last Thursday

Feet stamped and residents applauded as local people pleaded to keep their 90-year old community arts centre. However Cllr Mellor, Leader of Bromley's Council, gave Beckenham residents little hope of it being spared.

After many weeks, Bromley Council finally agreed to the calls from Copers Cope Residents Association and from Lib Dem Clock House Councillors, Denise Payton, Reg Adams and Jane Connor for a public meeting to discuss the future of Beckenham's only community arts and education centre.

With just one week's notice of the venue, and with no Council notices in any newspaper, Save The Studio campaigners were hard-pushed to let Beckenham residents know of the meeting in time.

It was made even more difficult for residents to attend when the Council imposed a 'tickets only' restriction on entrance to the 130-seater hall, available only from the Library. Just 72 tickets were released for the general public and they were snapped up in no time. The names of about 150 people who asked for tickets after the Library's allocation had run out were recorded by Library staff. And of course many more people were simply unable to get to the Library during the three or four opening days prior to Thursday's meeting.

Clock House Cllr Denise Payton said: "This is the latest in a string of Council decisions to close facilities which play an important role in local communities. By the time students at The Studio and their parents were told about its closure in early December, the providers of art and drama classes had already been given notice to leave the premises and the cleaners had been laid off."

Bromley Council have stated that they wish to close The Studio due to the annual overspend of some £70,000. Yet the net expenditure of The Studio in the last financial year was £1,000 LESS than it was in 1996/97. The overspend is a direct result of successive cuts in The Studio's subsidy - from £112k in 1996/97, increased under a Lib Dem/ Labour coalition in 1999/00 - but now reduced to a mere £36k a year.

Beckenham residents are left wondering why the Tory Council has decided that it is not worth spending money on arts and education in Beckenham any more.

The meeting was organised by Brian Turpin, former head of Bromley Council's Leisure Services public relations team - but now employed by Bromley MyTime, the new leisure trust which intends to use the 90 year old Studio as office space.