An allocation of £4million to Dreamland from the £22.2m Margate Town Deal fund has been turned down by the park’s new owners LN-Gaiety – a subsidiary of concert and festival giant Live Nation.
The funding had been earmarked to be used towards the renovation and reopening the Dreamland cinema building which has been empty for more than a decade.
The site was to be turned into an entertainment and conference centre with space allocated to community use.
The allocation caused controversy with some questioning why the privately owned business would be receiving public funds.
Thanet council has now announced that LN-Gaiety will not be accepting the grant and a decision will now be made on how it will be reallocated to other Town Deal projects.
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We have been notified by Dreamland of its intention not to accept the £4million allocated from the Margate Town Deal. This follows the recent acquisition of Sands Heritage Ltd by LN-Gaiety.
“There will now need to be a decision around how this sum will be allocated. We are committed to ensuring that approved Margate Town Deal projects benefit from this funding and that this is achieved by the March 2026 deadline.
“The first step will be to get clarification from the government on what is possible. It should be noted that the funding cannot be reallocated to a new project that does not already have government approval through the Margate Town Investment Plan.
“With any reallocation of this funding, the outputs such as jobs and refurbishment of heritage buildings, will still need to be met.
“An overview of the situation will be provided in a report, for Cabinet members to note at a meeting on Thursday 29 February.”
Eddie Kemsley, CEO at Sands Heritage Ltd, said: “We will develop a plan for the cinema building that is both financially viable and in keeping with Dreamland’s history of entertainment.
“With that in mind we have taken the decision not to accept the £4 million from the Margate Town Deal fund. We hope this money can be redistributed to other projects to benefit the regeneration of Margate and its legacy of leisure and entertainment.”
County Councillor Barry Lewis said: “The £4million now should be spent on a project that would benefit the whole of Margate society rather than on a private company.”
The Live Nation subsidiary took significant control of Dreamland from Sands Heritage last December. The subsidiary is jointly controlled by Live Nation Entertainment Inc through Live Nation (Music) UK Limited and Ronmall Unlimited Company through its subsidiary Gaiety. MCD Productions Unlimited Company was acquired by LN-Gaiety Holdings Limited when the merger was cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in 2019.
Festival and concert giant Live Nation new owner of Dreamland
Margate Town Deal projects
£300,000 Margate Winter Gardens
£2m Theatre Royal
£750,000 Margate Skatepark
£4million NOW TO BE REALLOCATED
£6 9m Margate Creative Land Trust
£1.1m Access Walpole
£900k for outreach/education programmes
£5.3m highway/public realm schemes
What was planned for Dreamland’s cinema: £4million Town Deal cash towards entertainment and conference centre plans for Dreamland Cinema
