Yate cinema wins approval

"And... Action!" - Planners give
go-ahead for Yate Cinema

Planning permission has now been granted for the Yate Cinema and the associated retail development, a decision which has been hanging on a knife edge. The 8th May meeting of the DC (East) planning committee gave the go-ahead after a detailed debate led by Lib Dem councillors Pat Hockey and Alan Lawrance.

In the vote that followed the scheme was approved by five votes to nil. The Conservative councillors on the committee felt unable to support the proposal, so they all abstained.

This is the culmination of a ten year campaign by Steve Webb MP and the Focus Team to get a cinema for Yate - what really swung the decision was the massive local support for the proposal, as demonstrated by Steve Webb's cinema petition.

The team at Yate Shopping Centre are to be congratulated on putting together a viable commercial proposal even in these difficult times. They say that building is scheduled to start next January, and opening around October 2015. So we could have a local multi-screen cinema up and running within 18 months.