A pantomime boss has been ordered to tear down a theatre which was built in secret without planning permission.
Kevin Fraser insisted the show must go on despite being served with an enforcement notice over the ‘stealth’ construction.
Mr Fraser, 67, admitted the £1.7 million development in a Hampshire village with links to Shakespeare was carried out without planning permission, a move councillors said ‘beggared belief’.
The venue only had permission to be used for storage and Mr Fraser was refused permission to convert it, the local authority said.
Despite claiming he was the victim of a ‘vendetta’ from the local authority and ‘Scrooge’ councillors, the council rejected his appeal to keep it as a theatre.
Titchfield Festival Theatre, Hampshire, claims to be the largest community theatre in Europe.
For the last 13 years it has been operating out of a converted barn which holds two auditoriums seating 100 and 200 audience members respectively.
But after two failed attempts to get permission to convert a storage space on the site, in August 2022, Artistic Director Mr Fraser sanctioned the covert building of the new venue more than twice the size.
The new Arden theatre even featured an underground orchestra pit – which can seat up to 16 musicians – dwarfing the existing Acorn and Oak theatres.
It had been hosting performances since last summer, before Fareham Borough Council stepped in November last year.
After denouncing them as ‘Scrooges’, he put in an appeal to the Planning Enforcement Notice – which has now been rejected.
He has now been told the theatre must stop using the venue for performances by October 12.
Mr Fraser previously said: ‘Titchfield Festival Theatre is an incredibly successful community theatre company supported by thousands throughout the Borough and wider area.
‘It is the largest community theatre in Europe as well as being the only fully sustainable green theatre in Europe.
‘No mean achievement despite the constant harassment and vindictive vendetta it faces by Fareham Tory councillors.’
In a statement the council said it had been alerted to the new development in 2023, and pointed out the space had only been granted planning permission for use as storage.
Chairman of the Planning Committee, Cllr Nick Walker, had said: ‘Titchfield Festival Theatre has left the Council with no option but to pursue this formal planning enforcement action.
‘It is beggars belief that anyone would build a new 450-seat theatre without first securing planning permission.’
The latest development comes after a planning application for a 567-seat theatre was rejected in 2019, which was followed up by another rejected application later that year.
The council said this was because the site is ‘unsustainable’ and in a ‘poorly accessible location outside the urban area’, as well as offering ‘inadequate levels of parking’ which would lead to a ‘significant increase in noise affecting neighbours’.
However, Mr Fraser said it was always using the new theatre space for rehearsals and wardrobe rooms, as well as making props and building sets.
‘We recently cleared some of that theatre site and installed on that same site a 465 seat theatre in addition to our current Oak Theatre,’ he continued.
‘Bearing in mind we had been using the site continually for theatrical use for over 10 years completely known to Councillors.
‘Ten years in constant use is significant as the use is deemed as lawful after this period of time – internal works contained within that same site need no planning permission only Building Regulation.’
Mr Fraser said the theatre company had asked Hampshire County Council if it could purchase, rent or lease unused nearby land ‘on repeated occasions’ but ‘nothing has happened’.
‘FBC Tory Councillors use bully boy tactics to try and destroy something that is only good for the general population of Fareham and beyond,’ he added.
He accused the council of targeting them because they have their own venue that they want to succeed.
‘Fareham Borough Council clearly don’t want competition, they want to negate it,’ he said.
‘There are 20 theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue in London – why can’t we have two in Fareham?’
Mr Fraser, who starred in last year’s Christmas pantomime, added: ‘There were a few jokes about ‘can you put that statue there? Have you got planning permission?’
‘That kind of thing, to keep the story alive. We are here, we are not going away.
‘We still have our two other theatres at the front. We are not going anywhere and will still continue.
‘But we were being pestered and hounded – and at Christmas, hence why I call them the Grinches and Scrooges.’
Councillor Ian Bastable, vice chairman of the planning committee at Fareham Borough Council, said he is now happy the theatre has lost its appeal.
‘I am pleased to see the Planning Enforcement Notice has been upheld and the appeal dismissed’, Cllr Bastable said.
‘It seems extraordinary that, despite concerns raised by the council in connection with creating a large theatre here, the works still went ahead.
‘I would like to reassure all of our residents that where development is carried out without planning permission, and is unacceptable in planning terms, this council will take action against it.’
William Shakespeare is thought to have links to the Hampshire village of Titchfield, after an alleged affair with the Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, who sponsored the writer for a time.
Historians believe the playwright may have spent time in the village with his patron at Titchfield Abbey.