Tameside Hippodrome under threat

Tameside Hippodrome staff face an anxious few weeks as Live Nation and the local Council lock horns over the theatre’s future.

Live Nation’s contract to run the theatre expires on 31 March 2008 and the company is unwilling to renew its contract on the current basis.

The local Council says it will have to close the theatre for refurbishment if no new deal is struck with Live Nation or another operator. Without a new management contract, the Council says it will close the theatre altogether.

The Council had sought a new operator for the theatre but no viable tenders were received, it is reported.

Alongside their concerns about the future for the venue, staff will also be troubled by doubts about how they will be treated should the theatre close.

Live Nation insists that TUPE (transfer of undertakings regulations) would apply after 31 March and that the Council would be responsible for the staff’s future employment and for any severance payments which might fall due.

The Council insists that without a new operator in place, the theatre would not be a “going concern” and that therefore TUPE regulations would not apply. In this situation, the Council claims that the employer Live Nation would be responsible for obligations to the 15 permanent and 30 freelance staff affected.

Whilst the Council and Live Nation try to insist that the other party is ultimately responsible for what happens to staff, those same staff have launched a campaign to save the venue. So far the campaign petition has attracted 10,000 signatures. Click petition to add your signature.

BECTU attended an open forum meeting last night in Ashton-Under- Lyne, home to the theatre, and has called on the local authority to keep the venue open.

“BECTU calls on the local Council to do the decent thing to safeguard the jobs of a dedicated workforce and to retain an important asset to the local community. The success of the petition is a sign of local strength of feeling which can be built on” commented Arts and Entertainment supervisory official Willy Donaghy.