A REPORT looking at how the Alhambra Theatre and Carnegie Hall could develop a “closer working relationship” has been delayed. 

Independent consultants were brought in to examine the way ahead for the two Dunfermline theatres, amid concerns about their financial security, but any decisions have been put back until March. 

Gordon Mole, Fife Council’s senior manager in business and employability, explained: “The consultants sought a range of financial and operational information from the two theatres and the council and have spoken with stakeholders in the course of this work. 

“Due to delays in receiving some of the information requested, the consultants have been delayed in discharging the brief for the study and a finalised draft is now anticipated in January.”

He added that the Dunfermline Theatres Working Group would discuss the consultants’ report and it would then go to the council’s education, health and social care scrutiny committee in March.

Their recommendations will then go to the executive committee for a decision. 

The working group was set up by the council in February to bring a co-ordinated approach to theatre provision and programming in Dunfermline. 

It followed a decision to suspend the award of one-year funding of £150,000 to the Alhambra.

The group consists of Dunfermline councillors Fay Sinclair and William Campbell and representatives from the council, Fife Cultural Trust – which operates Carnegie Hall – and the Alhambra Theatre Trust (ATT). 

It was to look at the management and financial security of the theatres and met twice a month from March to June. 

But with no firm resolutions in place, independent consultants Festival & Events International were commissioned in October to “explore options for sustainability of theatre provision”. The work was funded by Fife Cultural Trust, ATT and the council.  

ATT were invited to talks by the council last year with the aim of bringing the two theatres together to save the council money and avoid damaging competition. 

At the start of this year, councillors discussed the trust’s request for £350,000 to run both the Alhambra and Carnegie Hall in the first year, “decreasing annually to £215,000 in the fifth year”, with the reduction in funding a result of increased income and efficiencies.

An alternative was put forward by the council of funding of £150,000 a year for three years, as well as up to £50,000 a year to support the costs of booking major West End shows. 

Their report in January had also warned that the Alhambra could shut if funding was not granted.

ATT played this down but admitted that without extra funding “the current business model may not be sustainable in the long term”.

The executive committee agreed one-year funding of £150,000, which ATT said it “never asked for, and does not intend to accept”. 

It said it had made it clear it was not interested in an “Alhambra-only funding package” and in February, councillors agreed with the recommendations of a scrutiny group to suspend the funding proposal. 

The working group was then set up and given a six-month remit, with final options for both theatres originally due to go before the council in September of this year.