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OPEN AIR THEATRE

Our 2025 summer season has now ended. Our 2026 season will be announced in the new year.

Statement from BOAT Trustees on BHASVIC’s planning application

The Trustees and management of Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) located in Dyke Road Park, are seriously concerned about the BHASVIC planning application (ref BH2025/02901) for an artificial grass floodlit football pitch and MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) in very close proximity to our theatre.

BOAT is a non profit making registered charity and our objective is ‘the advancement of education in arts culture through the establishment and maintenance of an open-air theatre in Brighton & Hove for the use of residents and visitors.’ The theatre was built and opened in 2015 and during our first 11 years we have invested any spare funds to improve our facilities, including a new box office / toilet building and a number of major infrastructure projects, in order to make BOAT an established and viable cultural venue for the long term.

We have worked very hard over the last decade to build a community around this much-loved space. We keep our ticket prices at affordable levels, and encourage our audiences to bring picnics to enjoy in our beautiful grounds. People from all walks of life and economic backgrounds can relax, de-stress, connect with nature and see a wide variety of marvellous performances.

BOAT has now completed its 11th season from May to September 2025 with a wide range of performances, including family shows, plays, comedy, drag, opera, music and dance, provided by about 80 different theatre and music companies. We work with local charities and amateur groups, as well as high quality touring theatre (i.e. Shakespeare’s Globe and Mischief), putting Brighton on the map as a cultural destination. We are consistently included on lists of the best outdoor venues in the country (The Times, Country Life, The Telegraph, The Guardian) and are a huge benefit to Brighton’s cultural standing.

We have provided entertainment for over 27,000 people attending BOAT during 2025 and we therefore hope Councillors will take action to refuse the BHASVIC application, so that BOAT can continue providing unique theatre in Brighton and Hove.

The proposed AGP and MUGA are only 50m from BOAT, so imagine our wonderful theatre with the screech of whistles, impacts of balls on fences and shouts of players, right next to you. On stage any spoken word, poetry, or play will be ruined, and with 75% of our performances being spoken word (i.e. unamplified) these will no longer be viable if this kind of noise is occurring right next to us.

It should not be underestimated just how much of a negative impact the use of these pitches would have on BOAT. The regular and consistent noise mere metres from our boundary would render any non-amplified performance utterly unviable. For clarity, this is not equivalent to existing ambient park noise. Sustained shouting, ball impacts on fencing and whistling from dozens of people across several hours would utterly overwhelm anything on our stage. We are not exaggerating when we say that the future of the theatre would be in serious jeopardy if these plans go ahead.

BOAT is certainly not against the idea of better sports facilities for students at the college and we engaged with BHASVIC about the proposed development during the 2025 spring and summer. We put forward positive proposals that would allow full use

of the pitches from October to April, but with limits on use from May to September when the theatre operates. Our proposals would have very little impact on student use of the pitches, however nothing we proposed and discussed with BHASVIC has been adopted in the current proposal. It has also become clear that BHASVIC want to use the pitches all year round, renting them out to make money for the college, and this may be the fundamental reason why BHASVIC will not agree to limiting use during the summer.

BHASVIC have completely ignored BOAT concerns and our wonderful theatre will be put completely at risk by this development, as it will be impossible to programme a season of performances with the likelihood of a 5-a-side football match taking place next door, therefore BHASVIC leave us no alternative but to strongly object to the proposal, on the grounds that the significant noise and disturbance will disrupt performances at BOAT and quite likely jeopardise the future viability of the theatre.

We will be looking into the planning grounds supporting our case shortly, but it is worth noting that despite BOAT being the closest neighbour to the new pitches the Noise Impact Assessment and the Noise Management Plan submitted by BHASVIC don’t mention the theatre, which is quite remarkable considering we have been in discussions with BHASVIC about our concerns since May 2025. The only conclusion one can reach about this omission is that BOAT has been ignored because an assessment would clearly show the noise impact would be unacceptable.

If you wish to support BOAT, we urge you to submit an objection against BHASVIC’s plans, citing the impact upon BOAT as your reasoning. You can submit your objection by making a comment on the application using the link below. You will need a Brighton & Hove Council account, but can create one even if you don’t live in Brighton. The deadline to comment is 14th January.

For press enquiries, please contact Will on manager@brightonopenairtheatre.co.uk

SUBMIT OBJECTION

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We are looking for a Marketing Co-ordinator to manage our 2026 season campaign. You’ll be social-media savvy, an organised thinker with at least 2 years experience in a marketing or comms role.

Part-time, Brighton-based, freelance. Deadline: 15 January 5pm.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Comedienne Kerry Godliman

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