Scala Cinema Prestatyn 107.jpg

Rhyl Journal: Residents quizzed on Scala’s Future

Home 5 News 5 Rhyl Journal: Residents quizzed on Scala’s Future
10 Nov, 2006
Scala Cinema Prestatyn 107.jpg
Rhyl Journal: Residents quizzed on Scala’s Future

PRESTATYN residents are to be quizzed for their views on plans to redevelop the town’s Scala into a new arts centre. Friends of the Scala action group will distribute questionnaires to every household in Prestatyn over the next week in an attempt to gauge how vital the project is considered to the town’s regeneration.

Once home to a cinema, The Scala, has lay derelict since 2000.

Plans for its transformation into a new arts centre have received the backing of Denbighshire County Council and the authority has begun attracting funding including a promise of £1.5million from the Welsh Assembly.

The project is believed to be at the centre of the sacking of Denbighshire’s finance boss, Paul Marfleet, who is understood to have recommended to Denbighshire Leader, Rhiannon Hughes, that the scheme be abandoned. The people of Prestatyn have been given until November to show their support for the new-look Scala.

Sandra Pitt, Chairperson of Friends of the Scala, said: “All we want to do is prove to Denbighshire County Council that the people of Prestatyn still want the Scala after six years.

“It is vital to the regeneration of the High Street and is a focal point that will bring businesses to the town.

“At the moment it looks an eyesore. It is a needed facility and when it was there it was our community centre.” Sandra explained the action group had received great levels of support from local people, whether it was adding their name to a petition, or like primary school pupil Ashley Dean Jones Bryan, who has organised his own sponsored walk. “Ashley decided to do this off his own bat because he wanted to go to the cinema and isn’t old enough to go into Rhyl. “He is typical of many people who are passionate about the Scala. “Prestatyn has sold off enough of its assets that’s why we must keep the Scala.”

Source: Rhyl Journal article