Lyme Regis cinema: Housing and retail plans withdrawn

Housing proposals for a fire-damaged former cinema site have been withdrawn.

The Regent Cinema in Lyme Regis was gutted by the blaze in 2016 and the main building has been empty since.

London planning agent Mackenzie Wheeler submitted proposals for a retail and housing development in January but Dorset Council has confirmed the plans have been withdrawn.

The town council had said the plans should be "more sympathetic to the surrounding conservation area".

Dorset Council confirmed the proposals had been scrapped although in line with its policy, did not say why.

The art-deco cinema on Broad Street opened in 1937 and is a listed building.

It has been unused since the fire in 2016, caused by an electrical fault, although the front of the building is in use as a bar and shop.

Former owners Scott's Cinemas has said it sold the site to "a local owner" with initial plans to convert it to a hotel being dropped after deciding the site would be unviable.

The alternative scheme was for two four or five-bedroom homes and a three-bedroom maisonette, plus associated parking. It also sought to create two retail units on the ground floor.

The proposals allowed for the original side walls, along with the existing staircase and staircase window, to be retained.

Dorset Council's conservation officer had said the plans were "harmful to the historic character of Lyme Regis Conservation Area".

The officer noted the auditorium remained "a roofless ruin" but the building was an "attractive example of the public face of a small town cinema of its period".

Among the public comments in support of redevelopment, an Axminster resident wrote: "It's time to tidy up Lyme Regis so fully support this application, many buildings in Lyme have become empty and tired/left in an occupied state which does not benefit anyone."

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