Hull blitz cinema future

Campaigners say the last surviving civilian example of a blitz-damaged property in the country will be ruined if development plans go ahead.

Planning permission's been given to fence off part of the National Picture Theatre in Hull so it can be used by the pub next door as a car park. James Webster reports.

Councillors who will decide this afternoon whether to allow development on the site of the Blitz-damaged National Picture Theatre in Hull have visited the site this morning. Hull City Council's planning committee is considering proposals for a new car park and fence for the adjacent derelict pub.

Members of the committee spent around 15 minutes looking at the back of the property on Beverley Road. They will meet to discuss the proposals at 2pm.

Hull City Council will meet this afternoon to consider proposals that could affect the future of the former National Picture Theatre cinema on Beverley Road in Hull. The building is the last surviving civilian building to be left as it was after being bombed in the Blitz during World War Two.

The building's owner wants to use part of the back of the site as a car park with a fence to serve the pub next door which he also owns and plans to renovate. The ruined facade of the cinema would remain. The proposals are due for consideration by the council's planning committee later.

Campaigners from the National Civilian Memorial Trust are hoping to put plans together for a memorial and visitor centre on the site of the cinema which they want to see preserved. They object to the plans which they think would stop their proposal from being possible.

Read more: Campaigners start petition to save National Picture Theatre

View the planning report going before Hull City Council