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Local MP and former DCMS Minister Helen Grant has stepped in to urge Maidstone Council to save the Hazlitt Theatre. The Council is preparing to end its contract with the management company Parkwood Theatres in order to “bring the building back under council control so we can better manage the finances around it”.

Council leader Martin Cox said they would “review the re-opening of the theatre, under a new arrangement at a time when it is viable and sustainable”. But the decision by the Economic Regeneration and Leisure Committee to decide the future of the venue behind closed doors has raised concerns that it will be closing for good.

Over 7,000 people have signed a petition calling for the theatre to reopen and the MP has backed calls for the decision to be reversed and the issue put on ice until January, to “explore the options and take action as needed."