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[Dan]

Source: The Journal

PRESTATYN residents are to be quizzed for their views on plans to redevelop the town's Scala into a new arts centre. Friends  of the Scala action group will distribute questionnaires to every  household in Prestatyn over the next week in an attempt to gauge how  vital the project is considered to the town's regeneration.
Once home to a cinema, The Scala, has lay derelict since 2000.
Plans  for its transformation into a new arts centre have received the backing  of Denbighshire County Council and the authority has begun attracting  funding including a promise of £1.5million from the Welsh Assembly.
The  project is believed to be at the centre of the sacking of  Denbighshire's finance boss, Paul Marfleet, who is understood to have  recommended to Denbighshire Leader, Rhiannon Hughes, that the scheme be  abandoned. The people of Prestatyn have been given until November to show their support for the new-look Scala. Sandra  Pitt, Chairperson of Friends of the Scala, said: "All we want to do is  prove to Denbighshire County Council that the people of Prestatyn still  want the Scala after six years.
"It is vital to the regeneration of the High Street and is a focal point that will bring businesses to the town.
"At the moment it looks an eyesore. It is a needed facility and when it was there it was our community centre." Sandra  explained the action group had received great levels of support from  local people, whether it was adding their name to a petition, or like  primary school pupil Ashley Dean Jones Bryan, who has organised his own  sponsored walk. "Ashley decided to do this off his own bat because he wanted to go to the cinema and isn't old enough to go into Rhyl. "He is typical of many people who are passionate about the Scala. "Prestatyn has sold off enough of its assets that's why we must keep the Scala."