The Belvoir Centre in Coalville has emerged as a possible location for the town’s proposed cinema.
North West Leicestershire District Council bosses say they are working with the centre’s new owners, property investment trust Gylo, on plans for a multi-screen complex.
The Conservatives who run the council promised to deliver a cinema if they won May’s election and were duly returned.
The Tory manifesto pledge prompted debate about whether a town the size of Coalville, with some 40,000 residents, could sustain it own cinema given the proximity of others nearby in Swadlincote, Loughborough, Leicester and Nottingham.
Now, five months on, council leader Richard Blunt has updated LeicestershireLive on the scheme.
He said: “Since we declared that we would bring a cinema to Coalville, the Belvoir Centre has new owners – this is a real positive for the town.
“We are now working proactively with the new owners on their plans for the centre and the surrounding area and are pleased that they share our ambition to bring a cinema to the town.
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“We’re now all working on how we make this happen, looking at sites and possible funding options.
“This includes a bid to the government’s Future High Streets Fund – up to £25 million to transform the town centre.
“We will soon be talking to the public about our bid to this funding pot, to hear their local people’s views on what should be prioritised.”
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Coun Blunt said the council had been in discussions with an unnamed ‘credible’ cinema operator looking at a ‘six-to eight screen’ model.
The council owns car parking space near the centre and the ageing indoor market which has been earmarked for closure.
So far the authority has not said what will happen to the market hall site in the future but it is understood demolition to make way for a new development is an option under consideration.
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Labour Coalville West district councillor John Legrys said: “I would welcome it if a developer wanted to invest £5-10 million in Coalville to get a return in five years.
“But I wouldn’t want to see a modern cinema disused.
“We don’t have the student demographic that Loughborough has and I wonder if there is the demand.
“I worry that this is something people have been promised but isn’t deliverable.”
