IT’S interesting to see that Pastor Paul Hill of the UCKG (letters, 4 June) is no longer saying the EMD is not viable as a cinema. After all, with two cinema operators saying it is, that’s not an angle that will wash anymore.

So instead he’s saying the cost of refurbishment of this magnificent building is too much. Britain is awash with examples of resurrected buildings which have become successful again thanks to a partnership between the public and the private sectors.

The EMD is a grade II* Listed building in one of the country’s most multicultural areas. It therefore ticks the boxes of huge numbers of funders – English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Mayor of London, and plenty of European funds.

All it would take is for someone in the council to take the initiative.

There’s little prospect of any progress on a development on the arcade site in the foreseeable future, so any prospect of a multiplex there is just a pipe dream.

The UCKG’s proposals to include a café and some rooms for hire do not make any difference to the basic fact of their application – they want to change use of the building away from being a cinema.

Last time they tried, the decision went to the highest planning authority in the land, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which ruled the building should be kept as a cinema.

Come on Cllr Chris Robbins, take the initiative and give the people of Walthamstow what they want – their cinema.

James Hedges,

Orford Road,

Walthamstow.