NEWBURY’S former MP has accused council leader Graham Jones of jeopardising the town’s long-awaited cinema project.
District councillor David Rendel (Lib Dem, Thatcham North) said the threat not to pay developer Alanis the £500,000 subsidy agreed by the Liberal Democrat-run council in 2003 risked collapsing the deal.
Last week’s Newbury Weekly News revealed how the Conservative administration had re-negotiated their contract with the Kennet Centre owners so that no public money would change hands if the cinema does not open by December next year.
Mr Rendel said: “If this is a genuine threat, then it could lead to the cancelling of the cinema.”
He said that council leader Graham Jones (Con, Lambourn) was so desperate to get out of paying the subsidy that the project had already been delayed by years.
“It this can possibly be a serious threat, it shows he’s prepared to throw it all away. It’s almost certain it cannot run without the subsidy,” he said.
Mr Jones said: “Whatever we say, David Rendel will concoct a story saying exactly the opposite.
“If the cinema could have been built by David Rendel’s hot air it would have been built four years ago. The Lib Dems signed a deal to subsidise the cinema in political haste to try and save his political career.”
He said the original agreement was “a ludicrous state of affairs” which carried no timetable for delivery.
“The people of West Berkshire want to see a cinema built, and I am sure they are as bored as I am listening to Councillor Rendel’s shameless point scoring,” he said.