Plans for a nine-screen multiplex cinema in Whiteley look certain to be approved by councillors next week.
Artist impression of Whiteley cinema
Members of the Winchester City Council planning committee have been recommended to grant planning permission for the 2,850 square metre two-storey building which will have the cinema on the first floor and restaurants and community facilities on the ground floor.
But if they do approve the scheme it is likely that it will be referred to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, for the final decision.
Whiteley parish council chairman Mike Evans will speak at the meeting next Thursday (April 25) in support of the project. If it is approved work could begin in February next year and the 1,416 seat complex could be open by May 2015.
Fareham Borough Council is listed as an objector to the scheme claiming the multiplex cinema would be out of scale when taken with the new £84m shopping centre which it will sit beside.
Winchester Council has received 19 letters from residents objecting to the proposals for the cinema, to be operated by Cineworld, saying it would have an adverse impact on nearby residents and wildlife, and that it could cause traffic congestion.
Ten letters have been received supporting the cinema development suggesting it will provide evening entertainment within walking distance and that the acoustic and landscape screening would be better than what is there currently.
Whiteley Co-ownership Trust, which owns the shopping centre redevelopment, has applied for planning permission for the development. Originally the proposed cinema site was earmarked for offices and a medical centre and the site is next to a piece of land allocated for a church.
The report for the planning committee states the cinema complex could include privately-run restaurants, bars and leisure and community uses, such as a day centres, nurseries, crèche, medical facilities, art galleries, museums, libraries, public halls and places of worship on its ground floor.
Although these have not yet been confirmed, the report states the proposals “would extend and improve the facilities for Whiteley” and “support economic diversification and development” by efficiently using the land next to the shopping centre.
“The proposal is therefore considered to be acceptable in principle,” the report by planning officers said.
If approved, the cinema would be open until 12.30am from Monday to Thursday and until 2am on Fridays, Saturdays and those Sundays before a Bank Holiday Monday.
No facilities in the building will be allowed to be opened to customers outside of the hours from 8.30am to 11.30pm on Mondays to Saturdays and 10am to 10pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
A decision will be made at the meeting at Winchester City Council at 2pm next Thursday.