Council cutbacks threaten Essex drama group

A performing arts group serving children, adults and people with special educational needs is at risk of closure due to cutbacks by Thurrock Council in Essex.

The council has debts totalling around £1.5bn and has announced plans to withdraw £126,000 in funding for youth work, the BBC reported.

Victoria Jarmyn, CEO and Founder of JTD Arts, said that her group had received funding from the council for 14 years but that she had no promise of further funds from April.

JTD also receives funding from Active Essex, but the uncertainty over continued funding from the council has left her “a bit petrified", she told the BBC.

“These adults have been coming here and they have relied on this service and it has helped them integrate within the community to be able to become a lot stronger within society,” she said.

“To take that away has quite a lot of impact on their life skills.”

The group operates from the Thameside theatre complex in Grays, which is under threat of sale. A 2021 report found that the venue cost £500,000 annually in running costs and that refurbishment would cost £16m.

Councillors are due to discuss the complex’s future next week.

Conservative Council Leader Mark Coxshall denied that the Thameside would be closing.