The De La Warr Pavilion is set to receive an emergency funding package following a decision by Rother council leaders.

At a virtual meeting held on Monday (June 8), Rother District Council’s cabinet agreed to draw £350,000 from reserves to provide an urgent support package to help the arts centre survive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to council papers, the pavilion expects to lose £1.1m of income in the 2020/21 financial year, mainly as a result of the lockdown preventing its live events programme from going ahead.

While part of the De La Warr is set to reopen to the public next month, the ongoing restrictions against live performance are expected to continue for some time yet, with the venue unlikely to resume its full events programmes until March next year. 

Among those to speak in support of the proposals was Kevin Dixon, the council’s lead member for finance and performance management. He said: “We are the freeholder of this building and we have always got to be mindful that if the De La Warr Trust failed, it would come back to the council and we would have to run and deal with [it].

“That is not something that the council is equipped to do or indeed wants to do. So, while it is disappointing to have to prop up the De La Warr Pavilion in this way, it is absolutely essential that we do so.”

Similar support was given by Christine Bayliss, cabinet member for economic development and regeneration. She said: “The De La Warr is a linchpin of our creative industries in Bexhill and they do some amazing work with various different artists. 

“It would be a real shame and a real disaster for Rother and [its] creative industries industries if the pavilion were to go under.”

According to council papers the emergency funding package is to be drawn from Rother’s reserves. However, the authority intends to pull this money back from the De La Warr in the coming years by reducing its future grant funding.

The council says this will be done without damaging the business through an ‘open book accounting’ arrangement with the De La Warr Trust.

This arrangement saw some concerns raised by Cllr John Barnes (Con, Burwash and the Weald), however.

Cllr Barnes said: “I think it would not only be a cultural disaster but a financial disaster if we didn’t actually support the De La Warr at this crucial time.

“[But] I am really not sure you are wise to commit yourself to turning the grant into what is effectively a loan. 

“It may well be right if the De La Warr starts generating an income or gets grants from the Arts Council that we reduce our grant. But to commit yourself today to do so is tantamount to treating this emergency grant as a loan.

“If that brought about the demise of the De La Warr it would not only be a cultural disaster but it would actually put the pavilion back on to the books of the council and that cannot be a good thing.”

However, in response, officers said the arrangement included no specific timescale, with the  potential to spread out the grant reductions over a long period of time.

They also reiterated that repayments would be made in consultation with the De La Warr Trust with open book accounting ensuring that the council is only underwriting a shortfall in funding.

Similar comments were made by Cllr Carl Maynard, leader of the council’s Conservative group. He said: “I think it is absolutely essential that we support, as we have done in the past, the De La Warr Pavilion by way of a cash injection.

“But we need to be very mindful that whatever we have given in the past the Arts Council have in fact matched it.

“In the longer term, were we to reduce the amount of that we give to the De La Warr Pavilion [each year], that would could put the working relationship and indeed the vitality and sustainability of the De La Warr Pavilion at risk.

“I think these are exceptional circumstances and I think we should be honest with the public that this is most likely to be a grant rather than a loan.”