AN URGENT review is set to be carried out by a Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council committee into declining audience numbers at two Basingstoke venues.

Independent Overton councillor Ian Tilbury and the borough’s deputy Labour leader, Cllr Paul Harvey, presented a motion to a full council meeting last Thursday, calling for the borough council’s scrutiny committee to review visitor numbers at The Anvil and The Haymarket.

The motion said that visitor numbers at both venues have fallen by 30 per cent since The Anvil Trust took over the management of The Haymarket Theatre in 2006.

Cllr Harvey told the meeting: “What this motion proposes is something that is positive, not negative.

“This is to really work with partners to achieve success. There are big questions over the future of The Haymarket and the future of The Anvil.

“We hope the motion is supported and goes forward in a positive way, and we are seen as being a critical friend in the right way to support out partners.”

Cllr Tilbury added: “We need to be able to find a way through this and find out what’s going on.”

Councillors on the scrutiny committee will now work with management at the trust to understand the issues behind the figures.