Enfield's planning committee yesterday voted to defer approval of the application to demolish the Intimate Theatre to make place for a new parish centre. This represents a change of mind from November 2020, when the same committee approved an almost identical planning application. Since the original go-ahead was given, in view of a threat by the Theatres Trust to apply for a judicial review of the decision and in the light of recent changes in planning law, the council decided that the application should be reconsidered. Yesterday the councillors took more note of the argument that the new plans do not provide an adequate theatrical space and consequently decided to give St Monica's church an opportunity to explore whether the "explicit use of theatre performance can be retained” by including provision for a moveable stage.
There's a detailed report of the committee's discussion on the Enfield Dispatch website.
