An amateur theater manager has been embroiled in a planning row with Hampshire council after giving approval for the secret construction of a 450-seat theater without permission.
Kevin Fraser, artistic director of Titchfield Festival Theater (TFT), has approved the creation of a new £1.7 million performing arts centre, despite two previous applications being rejected by Fareham council.
Since 2010, the theater has been staging productions from a converted barn containing two auditoriums that seat 100 and 200 people respectively.
But given that hundreds of children use the venue every week and there is a busy schedule of up to 40 shows a year, bosses decided to expand the venue to include a third area which can seat more than 450 people.
Self-proclaimed as Europe’s largest community theatre, land previously granted planning permission as storage space has been chosen for the construction of a new venue, Arden.
The 67-year-old former Foreign Office diplomat said legal advice was being sought before TFT went ahead with its long-planned expansion.
Following its completion, performances were staged throughout the summer, while a Nativity play and a Robin Hood pantomime featuring Mr Fraser were also included in the upcoming festival programme.
But the long-term future of the new venue has been thrown into uncertainty after Fareham borough council officers served Mr Fraser with an enforcement notice requiring the new theater to close by February 29 unless an objection is made.
A councilor said the decision to build a new 450-seat venue without planning permission was a “beggar’s belief”, adding that the site was intended to be used for storage purposes only.
But Mr Fraser, 67, who lived in Chile while working as a diplomat in the 1970s, insisted the site’s long-term use as a community theater meant planning permission was not required.
Describing Fareham council as full of “Scrooges” and “Grinches”, he claimed the TFT was the victim of a “malicious vendetta” by Conservative members who feared competition between it and a council-run theater expected to open next year.
“Titchfield Festival Theater is an incredibly successful community theater company supported by thousands of people across the borough and wider area,” Mr Fraser told The Telegraph.
“As well as being the largest community theater in Europe, it is also the only fully sustainable green theater in Europe.
“Fareham district council clearly does not want competition, it wants to eliminate competition. There are 20 theaters on Shaftesbury Avenue in London; Why shouldn’t there be two in Fareham?”
“We are not going anywhere and we will continue. But at Christmas we get harassed and followed, so I call them Grinchs and Scrooges.”
Mr Fraser said the fight was likely to feature in the upcoming Robin Hood pantomime and he was prepared to oppose any attempt to close the new venue.
“’Can you put this statue there?’ There may be a few jokes like: ‘Do you have planning permission?’
“It’s something like this to keep the story alive. We are here, we are not leaving.
“Even if they win and close Arden, we still have two more cinemas in front of us. “We are not going anywhere and we will continue,” he said.
The new venue was built in secret after attempts to gain approval from councilors failed.
A planning application for a 567-seat theater was rejected in 2019, followed by another rejected application the same year.
Construction work on the new venue started in August last year.
In a statement, Fareham district council said it was warned about the new development at the beginning of the year and productions continued to be staged and advertised despite the risk of sanctions.
“Officers visited the site and met with representatives of the theater company, who explained that work was continuing on the construction of a new theater building with a capacity of 450 people,” the statement said.
“The police were given a tour of the project area, which includes a newly dug underground orchestra pit under the stage and a complex of backstage dressing rooms and rehearsal areas.
“The new theater was created in an area that was previously given planning permission to be used as a warehouse.
“Council officers warned the company that the new venue was at risk of enforcement without planning permission.
“Despite this warning, several public performances took place throughout December and into 2024, with shows advertised on the theater company’s website.”
Titchfield Festival Theater was first established at Titchfield Abbey in 2001, and one of its aims was to advance the theory that William Shakespeare lived and worked in south Hampshire.
Shakespeare is believed to have ties to the village through an alleged affair with Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, who sponsored the author for a time.
“Our whole raison d’être is Titchfield, which we believe is where Shakespeare spent his lost years,” Mr Fraser said.