Following the developments of last week, when Circle Anglia announced their intention to activate their one year break clause on the lease at The Square, Bill Rammell has been working with “Square One”, the group of users who have put together a rescue plan for the music venue, to try and ensure that The Square can be saved.

He has held a series of emergency meetings since last Wednesday (5th September) with the County Council Youth Service, Circle Anglia and Square One representatives to discuss the situation. Following these meetings he has now put a series of proposals together that he and Square One believe represent the best way forward in light of this new, extremely concerning situation.

In addition to the proposals he has launched a community petition to Save The Square and is calling on local residents and community groups to lend their support to this way forward and put pressure on the Conservative run County Council to agree to the demands.

Download the petition here:

Following the packed public meeting held at the Civic Centre in March, Bill Rammell and Labour County Councillors, persuaded County Council Portfolio Holder, Cllr Tracey Chapman to delay implementation of the County Council’s proposals to change the running of The Square for six months, with the exception of the bar closure, to give local users time to work up a rescue plan. That six months is due to expire at the end of this month.

In the intervening months Bill Rammell has worked to ensure that local users of the Square work in partnership to come up with one united proposal that they can all support. A new group has been formed – Square One – to support the Business Plan that has been developed to save The Square. With that business plan now on the table, Bill Rammell and Square One representatives are due to meet with Cllr Chapman to discuss the issue on Friday 21st September at County Hall. 

Bill Rammell believed throughout this process that the Tories at County Council were acting in good faith. However, the events of the last week, with the news that Circle Anglia are exercising their one year get out clause on The Square lease, requiring The Square to be vacated by the end of August 2008, have appalled him and The Square campaigners.

He called an urgent meeting with representatives of Circle Anglia last Friday morning, (7th September) to discuss the issue. At that meeting they confirmed to him that Essex County Council representatives had indicated to Circle Anglia that they had no interest in the long-term future of The Square building and in light of this they had decided to press ahead with their re-development plans for The Square and The Angle site. 

The Conservative County Council’s position is inexplicable given that they know that Bill Rammell and local campaigners are working on a proposal to save The Square, that they had agreed a six month breathing space to enable them to do that, and that they had themselves been given a copy of the Square One proposal some weeks ago.
 
During his meeting with Circle Anglia on Friday morning, Bill Rammell condemned the company in forceful terms for failing to consult the wider community when they knew that The Square was something that he and other local stakeholders were actively seeking to protect. He made clear that the decision, out of the blue, to activate the break clause in the lease had caused serious problems for The Square campaign and he impressed upon them that they had a community responsibility.

In response, Circle Anglia made clear that they recognised the importance of The Square as a venue and indicated that they wished to be as helpful as possible in protecting the provision at The Square in the short and long term and accepted that they had a role to play in terms of their community obligations.

Yesterday  (Monday 10th September) Bill Rammell and Labour Cllr Tony Durcan met with a Square One representative to discuss a way forward. Following their discussions, Bill Rammell has today written to the Conservative Portfolio Holder, Cllr Tracey Chapman, Circle Anglia and Harlow Council requesting the following in order to Save The Square.

Cllr Chapman – Tory run Essex County Council:

• That the six month review period should be extended, in light of their planned meeting on 21st September, to enable the discussions with the County Council, Circle Anglia and others to proceed given that the “Square One” Business Plan proposal is in place;
• That the County Council agree to maintain the Rock School and other youth provision on an outreach basis on site at The Square until such time as the site has to be vacated;
• That the County Council support the Square One proposal as the best way to protect and preserve the long-term provision at The Square and in light of the financial benefits accruing to them from this proposal in the long term (reduced lease costs, overheads etc) that they agree that Square One take over ownership of the equipment at The Square;
• That when relocation of The Square becomes necessary in the long-term, the County Council agree to work with Square One, Circle Anglia and other local partners to facilitate relocation, in the interests of the community and particularly Harlow’s young people, to suitable premises.

Circle Anglia 
• That they agree to allow The Square to remain in place, beyond the official lease end date of August 2008, until such time as it is necessary to vacate the site to allow for development to improve the area. This could be facilitated by, for example, a legal side letter between Circle Anglia, Square One and the County Council.
• That they confirm in writing what they acknowledged at their meeting with Bill Rammell last Friday, namely that they recognise a responsibility to the community and would be willing to commute a sum for the purposes of re-location of The Square to suitable alternative premises in the long-term.

Harlow Council
• That they confirm whether a Section 106 agreement in the community interest would apply to The Square /Angle site should Circle Anglia proceed with a planning application. If such an agreement would be required, the Council should confirm that they would be happy to regard an advance community agreement for the long-term re-location of the Square to suitable alternative premises in the context of that Section 106 agreement.

Speaking earlier today Bill Rammell said, “Quite frankly I and the Save the Square campaigners feel that we have been misled over the last six months by the Tories at County Hall. Under widespread community pressure they agreed to a six month review period but now we learn, before that six months is up, that they have been privately giving a nod and a wink to Circle Anglia that they have no interest in the future of The Square.”

“I can only conclude that they thought we would give up during this six months and that the campaign would quietly die away. Well that is not going to happen. As someone who has always lived in the town I care about the Square because I myself used to go there when I was younger so I know how great it is as a live music venue. As a politician, I can’t understand how the Tories can say on the one hand that our young people need something to do in the community and on the other hand they are actively trying to bring The Square to an end.”

“I and Square One have put together a series of proposals that we think can resolve the situation if the County Council and Circle Anglia are serious about their community responsibilities and are willing to play their part in saving the Square. The onus is now on them to give a positive response. In the meantime, I have launched the Save the Square petition so that local people and community groups, many of whom have contacted me since Thursday asking how they can play their part in our campaign, can lend their support to these proposals and help Save The Square.”
Richard Holgarth of Square One said, “For some time now, we have been working to bring together all parties affected by the threat to The Square, and we have succeeded in focusing everybody’s efforts into supporting one proposal. The Square One Partnership is committed to providing an all ages, live music venue with a seven day a week programme of activities including full support to the Rock School.”

“However, first of all we need to protect this excellent facility from unnecessary closure, as we are ready and able to take over its management from ECC.  Secondly, we need to secure The Square’s future through an agreement with the developers and Harlow Council that will see it continue to provide a vital service to all music lovers in the Harlow area for years to come. We are delighted that Bill Rammell is taking this matter as seriously as we are, and feel very encouraged by the efforts he has made on our behalf so far.”

ENDS